Aegis Rising (25 page)

The five looked at each other, concerned. Akol quickly added, “I am sure it will not be something drastic. In the end though, the decision is yours to make.”

“So you don’t have a doubt about the validity of this prophecy?” Aari asked.

“None.”

“Therefore you think we should do the training.”

Akol was slightly amused. “My opinion should be of no matter to you, my friends.”

“Yeah, sure, but we’ve kind of grown to trust your judgment.”

“I feel privileged that you think that way.” Akol paused for a minute and chose his words carefully. “In our view, the training is beneficial groundwork for every human being. All of us here go through it at one point or another before reaching adulthood. The training that you will go through—if you indeed are the ones, which the Elders do seem to believe—will follow through the basics to enhance your skills. The Elders will then take it a step further; whatever that is, I am afraid I cannot tell you because I have no idea. But even if you are not the ones, you would have experienced a little bit of training, and that is very valuable. So yes, I would say that it is best to do the training.”

The five let his words sink in. Jag looked at his friends and said, “We still have some time before we give the final decision . . . we’ll talk later.”

The friends stood and stretched, then said goodbye to Huyani and Akol before heading out to their own
neyra
.

25

“B
lasted idiot!”

Hutar stabbed his knife into the wooden table angrily. His comrades shared nervous looks. He rested his hands on the table on either side of the blade and leaned forward, his shoulder up to his ears. “That pest. He ruined it. He and his little companions
had
to interfere.”

“I suppose in hindsight, we should have seen it coming,” a girl said, and flinched when Hutar whirled around to glare at her. If looks could kill, the girl would have been burnt to ashes.

“It was a fantastic plan,” Relsuc interrupted, idly brushing back his mohawk. “It was incredible how you steered the wolves into the enclosure, Hutar.”

Hutar held up his hand and clenched and unclenched his fingers. “I know,” he muttered. “It was all going so well. The five would have been taken care of if it were not for Akol and his friends.” He yanked his ten-inch knife out of the table. “Even when he does not realize what we are doing, he thwarts it. He is a thorn in our side. He needs to be gotten rid of.”

“We can talk about Akol later, no?” Relsuc asked hesitantly.

Hutar took a deep breath and nodded. “Right.” He sat on a chair and crossed his arms.

The group was in a small abandoned
neyra
on the north side of the valley. The shelter they were in had been built many decades before and was never used. There were a few of these types of shelters scattered around the valley and no one ever gave them a second glance; it was a perfect place for the group to meet and speak without disturbances.

“What did they talk about this time?” Aesròn asked Hutar, knowing that the other youth had eavesdropped on the Elders again. He held up his necklace with the predator’s incisor to his light green eyes, observing it in the dim light.

“They have proposed an image assessment prior to training the outsiders.”

A collection of moans and angry comments flew. Hutar allowed them to complain for a few moments, then held up his hand for silence. The
neyra
quieted down immediately. Hutar looked at each one of them. “Let us prepare ourselves should the five agree to this proposal and pass the assessment,” he said slowly.

“We will make their life here miserable,” one boy growled.

“That goes without saying.”

“We need to scare them,” Matikè said. “Make them fear the training.”

Relsuc was nodding. “Yes. Feed them horrific stories of pain and a death or two resulting from the training.”

“No, no.” Hutar rubbed the back of his neck. “Those are flimsy suggestions. If we had more time I might agree, but this is a pressing matter. A more radical method is what we need.”

“Like?” Aesròn asked impatiently. “We have already attempted to eradicate them with the wolves. The only way we could get more radical is if we get rid of them with our own hands.”

Hutar didn’t respond. He rested his head back against the chair, eyes closed, and after a few moments asked, “Any ideas?”

One of the boys in the
neyra
shrugged. “I could sneak into their shelters tonight and deal with them personally.” He pulled a knife akin to a switchblade out of his pocket and rubbed his thumb over the hilt.

Relsuc groaned. “Are you not thinking? That would be too noticeable. The entire village would go berserk. Everyone would suspect everyone else.”

The boy with the knife went onto the defensive. “Perhaps that is what we need—fear and suspicion to go with this strange sickness. It would be good for us because we would not be the only ones suspected, it would be the whole community.”

“That is too much trouble,” Hutar said as he opened his eyes. “Remember, all we want is to get rid of these five nuisances. We are not out to sabotage our entire village.” He paused. “Speaking of this strange sickness, I want you all to avoid the waters outside of the valley.”

Aesròn looked up. “Is that where the illness is coming from?”

“The Elders and Magèo suspect so. I want you to stay clear of those waters, understood? Good.” Hutar stretched his legs out in front of him and became silent.

“Let us break off for today, and gather here again tomorrow afternoon?” Relsuc suggested quietly, as if he was afraid that if he spoke loudly Hutar might lash out; Hutar was an unpredictable figure, making him all the more dangerous.

Hutar spoke not a word, his gaze cold. The group sat still for a minute, until two of the youths quietly got up and walked out of the
neyra
. The others followed, all of them tentative and wary. Soon, the shelter was empty, leaving Hutar alone to contemplate.

26

A
t the crack of dawn the next day, the Elders met at their assembly
neyra
. The weather was slightly chillier than usual but the villagers were not bothered. As Saiyu, Tikina, and Ashack chatted, Nageau asked Tayoka, “Have you had the men gather everything they will need for the expedition?”

“Yes,” Tayoka replied. “But we can always double-check when we meet with them.”

Nageau nodded. A couple of hours before dawn, Magèo had raced across the village to inform Nageau that he had spent the last thirty-six hours devising and creating a technique to verify if a water source was contaminated, just as the Elder had wished. The village scientist had not slept at all since he had last spoken with Nageau.

Nageau called for the Elders to begin heading to the temple. There they would be meeting four men who had volunteered to head out and follow the tainted rivers to their possible source, the Ayen Range.

As they walked westward, the trees cleared and an incline at the western edge of the valley rose into view. The magnificent temple welcomed the Elders. Four men were already there, waiting in front of the temple for the arrival of the Elders. They bowed respectfully. The Elders smiled and Nageau spoke. “Good morning, my friends.”

One of the four tall villagers, a man with black hair and mocha-colored skin, smiled in return. “Good morning, Elder Nageau.”

“Have you all gotten your necessities for the trip?” Nageau asked.

“We generally understand our task ahead, but we would appreciate it if we could have it explained in greater detail.”

“Most certainly. You will divide into pairs. One team shall follow the Mayet River, and the other will be tracing the river that is at the bottom of the valley, on the eastern end.”

“And we follow it up toward the Ayen Range?”

“Yes. It will be about a three-day trip each way, so we will be expecting you back in the village in about six to seven days. Now, just to be clear on what you will be doing: as you trek beside the rivers, you will stop at timed intervals to check on the contaminant. You will know if the contaminant is there by filling a jar with water and dropping the crystalline gels that Magèo has created into it. If the gel turns a vibrant color, then you know the water is infected. If there is no color, then that means the contaminant is not present.”

“How are we to know the intervals?” the man with black hair asked.

Nageau blinked in surprise. “Did Magèo not explain it when you went to retrieve the devices from him?”

The men shook their heads and the Elders sighed. Ashack muttered, “Leave it to that boffin to exclude the important details.”

“He has many things on his mind, Ashack,” Tikina chided.

“In any case, you did retrieve all the gadgets you will need, did you not?” Nageau asked.

One of the other trekkers replied. “Yes we did. We have all our food and water packed—we will not be refilling them from any of the streams or lakes or rivers. We have the jars and the crystalline gels, and this object Magèo gave each of us . . .” He pulled out an article that looked like a small metal sphere.

Nageau took it. “Ah, this is exactly it. You asked how you would know when the intervals would be. This is the way. You will hold this sphere and when it vibrates, that signals the interval. It will vibrate for a few moments, then it will stop and pick up again at the next interval.”

The man, indicating that he understood, took the device back and put it in his large fin-shaped pack. “One more thing, Elder Nageau. What do we do if we find the source?”

“Return in haste and inform us.”

“Alright.”

Nageau gazed at the four men, all of them in their late thirties. He briefly made eye-contact with one of them and smiled a little; it was his daughter’s mate. “One last thing: A messenger falcon will be flying with you, alternating between your two groups. We shall use the message beads attached to its talons to keep track of your position. Any final questions?”

The men looked at each other and showed that they were satisfied. “Good,” Nageau said.

The Elders led the men into the grand temple’s stunning foyer. The flames erupting in the middle of the floor took on the shape of a torch as it flared brilliantly in its cauldron. The Elders motioned for the men to stand in a semi-circle around the fire.

Once they were positioned, Nageau held his palms up on either side of the flames and brought them together until they met in the fire. Cupping his hands, he raised them out of the fire and turned back around to face the men; his skin was perfectly unharmed. On his palms sat a small flame. He moved to the first man. The man clapped his hands over the flame and Nageau stepped back. When the villager opened his palms, the flame came to life. He passed on the flame in the manner that it had been given to him and the next man accepted it, as did the other two. Once the last man held the flame, he closed his hands. When he opened them again, the flame was extinguished.

The Elders stood in a line in front of the men. “Go now,” Nageau said. “And take our blessings with you.”

The trekkers straightened their fin-shaped backpacks. With a short nod to the Elders, they strode out of the foyer and back into the village to head out in search of the source of the sickness that had befallen their people.

27

M
ariah shifted impatiently from side to side as she ran a hand through her hair, trimmed the night before, then flipped her side bangs out of her eye. Jag looked over at her, grinning wryly. “What’s the matter with you?”

“You know what the matter is,” she growled. “We talked about it last night.”

“You’re still unhappy that we’ve decided to take up the Elders’ offer?”

Mariah stopped shifting. “Look, I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t feel right. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“But I thought you felt safer staying with these people,” Jag said.

“I
do
. But being part of a prophecy and training with them? Isn’t it a wee bit odd?”

“You sound just like Tegan.”

Tegan came out of the girls’
neyra
, catching Jag’s words. “Don’t talk trash about skeptics, pal,” she muttered.

“I wasn’t talking trash.”

“Your tone implied it.”

Jag groaned. “All I’m saying is, we had this discussion last night and the talk ended with us all agreeing to stay. Also, I find it strange that you’re being skeptical, because you’re not usually like that.”

Tegan raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, whatever. Maybe I’m just out of whack. Maybe it’s just that I’m a little homesick and don’t want to stay here.”

Jag put an arm around her shoulders. “It’d be incredible if one of us wasn’t homesick.”

The five were quiet for a few moments as their thoughts drifted back toward their homes, wondering what their parents would be doing right about now. It made their hearts heavy to think about the sadness and distress their families were going through. They were also worried about Kody’s father; there had been no news about him and Kody was as distraught as ever.

Unable to stand the silence, Aari said, “We should start heading toward Huyani’s place.”

The others nodded and together they began making their way across the valley. They hadn’t gone far when they ran into Akol, who was walking toward their shelters to meet with them. “Hello,” he said cheerily.

Mariah and Tegan shared suppressed grins; both found Akol rather adorable. “Hey,” Tegan replied. “We were just heading over.”

“Perfect.” Akol slid into the group as the friends continued walking. He looked them over. “Hmm . . . I see Huyani has been scissor-happy. Some of you got a haircut?”

“Well, the old ’fro needed to be trimmed,” Kody said as he patted his head.

Tegan snickered. “What ’fro? You’re almost bald.”

Kody gasped. “Untrue! I’ve got the Will Smith type of short hair. That is most definitely not bald.”

They walked into Huyani’s
neyra
ten minutes later and took their shoes off. Huyani hugged them all warmly and pointed at the meal she’d set on one of her two island counters in the kitchen. The five took their places and dug in after thanking her. As she and her brother leaned back on a counter against the wall, Kody looked up and asked, “Aren’t you guys gonna join us?”