Chapter Twelve

Sorena Kadaveer cast her roving eyes over her four nervous followers, whose eyes were darting around unblinkingly. There was no need to blink underwater.

“Yun peockinne foglio,” she hissed in the Manumo language. The simple sentence cast chills up the spines of the Manumos.

“Of course we won’t f-fail,” replied the tallest and boldest of the four. Even though he was Sorena’s brother, he still knew that she would kill him if he messed up.

“I would never even imagine failing you, my liege,” murmured Fondrata, Sorena’s advisor.

“Save your compliments, Drata,” spat Sorena. She found all of her cronies – except for Volod, her brother – to be very dimwitted and annoying. Only herself and Volod knew a different language than the Manumo one, which she found very tiresome. None of them would be able to spy very well on Ket Thompson, because the only one who understood the language he spoke was a wanted man on Winterberry Island.

“Yes,” mumbled Drata. Sorena eyed Ratsu, her bodyguard, and Karon, her fiancée. She did not love Karon, but she figured that she had to settle down at some point, and she had been seeing Karon for a few years. She did not want to admit it, but age was catching up on her, and she was expected to produce an heir to the Kadaveer reign. She would never take on Karon’s surname: it would remind her of a painful mistake she had made fifteen years ago, and of a male caller who had helped produce her first child. Karon would be allowed to keep his name, but their children would have to take on the Kadaveer name.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” demanded Sorena angrily, snapping all four to attention. “Why aren’t you swimming away? Get your duties done!”

“Lady Sorena, wait,” squeaked Ratsu. “I have a—a question!”

“What?” She was very impatient. This mission had been delayed for too long, and now Ratsu was trying to delay it even longer.

“Who will take my place while I’m gone – ?”

“You do realize,” interrupted Sorena, “that the only reason I keep you around is because the Kadaveer family and the Keelmann family are close? I honestly don’t need a bodyguard, Coratsu Keelmann. Now – GO!”

The four took off immediately, feet hitting the water furiously. Sorena sighed, turning away from the spot where they had stood moments before. A small twinge moved in her heart, but she quickly quelled it. What was that feeling, anyway…was it…oh, yes. It was disappointment. Sorena had had high hopes for Ket – maybe he would inherit the Kadaveer throne and take her place as Monarch of Golachma, maybe even as Dictator of Subteraneo – but, no; instead, he had decided to chase after those winged fools.

‘The Miringa are in my way,’ she thought angrily. ‘All I’m trying to do is purify the world. If they just admitted that their ways are stupid and that the Manumo were better, everything would be okay. But, of course, they cannot.’ She sighed. Even though her first child filled her with regrets, her next children would be better. ‘At least,’ she thought grimly, ‘they will look full Manumo.’

OoO

Makeda, Jeri, and Anthro decided to leave, insisting that they dared not impose upon the Larkins. Ket would have fain invited them to stay, but he was unsure how Kyara would react. He could sense the life force emitting from the baby, and it was much stronger. He knew that Kyara got extraordinarily emotional during this time, and did not want the three to be subject to that.

They stood on the beach as the sun dimmed. Clouds were forming above, and a small drizzle seemed to be expected. Ket, with his detecting skills, was able to tell if there were any humans around.

“Alright, you can – wait a minute.” Ket paused, feeling something odd. “No…there are four…four life signs.”

“Do you know what type of life signs they are?” whispered Jeri.

“Strong ones,” he replied. “That probably means that they’re young adults, but I don’t know where…” He wheeled about, quickly scanning the area for any islanders. Three more life forces came, but they were different than the previous ones. “I can’t see any of them!” he hissed angrily, even though he could tell that the first ones he had detected were drawing closer and closer. “Where are they?”

“KET!” yelled Makeda, and the boy turned around; seemingly out of thin air, a Manumo had appeared, a short dagger in his claws. He swung it, and Ket quickly dodged; Makeda leapt forward, a spell between her teeth, but three more Manumos leapt from the water.

“I know them!” yelled Ket furiously, staring at one in particular. It was Rukaron, the Manumo who had murdered his father.

“Good job,” cackled Vsevolod Kadaveer, kicking aside the limp body of Makeda Saevyer. She was bleeding profusely from a wound to the stomach. “Oh, don’t worry for your granny – she won’t die now. Pity,” he added sneeringly. “But we’re not after her. Sorena sent us after you, and it’s you we intend to kill.”

“Does Sorena honestly think that you can defeat me?” asked Ket, glad that his voice sounded level despite the height of his fear. “I’ve trained my haiyakala; I’m even more powerful than I was before. Your attempts will be futile.”

Volod laughed in such a way that Ket immediately regretted his stupid bravado. “We’re not fighting with magic, kid. We’re using our weapons to get to you, and you have none with you.”

“Ket…” whispered Makeda, reaching out a hand.

“Grandmother, lay still,” he ordered frantically, realizing how near his demise was. “Don’t move; you’re wounded.”

“Ah, how sweet,” crooned Volod, snickering. “Looking out for the elderly buffoon, are you?”

“The more you live, the wiser you become,” retorted Ket. He felt ridiculous engaging in a verbal battle when he should be hunting for ways to escape. “That might not apply to you, though!”

“Shut your mouth!” snarled Volod. “You’ll wish you had ne’er turned on us, that you will. Sorena’s going to have more children, you’ll see, and they can easily replace you.” He brandished his weapon in Ket’s face, raising it above his head. “Farewell, my worthless nephew!”

As he shouted these words, another voice broke in with a terrified “NO!” A beam of what looked to be orange lightning shot straight towards Volod, hitting him in the side of his head. He stumbled and fell back into the ocean. He was not dead, but knocked unconscious.

Ket turned, expecting to see Evelyn and Mr. Cambridge, but his senses told him he was wrong even before he saw – he had felt three life forces, not just two.

The two unlikeliest people stood there, one looking politely perplexed and the other looking horrified, gaping at her hands.

“Do something!” yelled Ket, feeling very inadequate. The only magic he had ever honed was haiyakala, which would take too much time to perform.

Another slice of the strange, orange lightning flew, this time hitting Karon. He seemed to have put up some magical defensive barrier, because it did not affect him as much as it had Volod. Ratsu and Drata, looking thoroughly shocked, roughly grabbed Volod’s arms and began dragging him back into the water. Drata called something to Karon, who was still standing there in a daze.

“You’re not going anywhere,” growled Ket, snatching up the knife Volod had dropped. He sprang towards Karon, who looked on helplessly –

“No!” screamed Jeri Lackey, grabbing Ket around the middle and pulling him to the ground. “No, you can’t!”

“What are you talking about?!” roared Ket, struggling around Jeri’s strong grip. “He killed my father! He murdered Kyros Saevyer!”

Karon, seeing a quick escape, hurriedly submerged under the water. Ket glared at Jeri, who seemed to have just recovered from a blow to the head.

“You let him get away!” yelled Ket, feeling involuntary tears form in his eyes. “He killed my father and you let him get away!”

“You can’t, Ket, you can’t.” Ket noticed, feeling slightly disturbed and ashamed, that Jeri was sobbing. “You can’t kill him, Ket. You can’t kill him…you can’t kill him because…because…he’s my son.”

She collapsed into a weeping pile, releasing her grip on Ket, but the boy no longer writhed about. He felt glued to the spot, water gently lapping upon his legs, sand pressing into the palms of his hands. He felt his heartbeat increase considerably, almost as though he was going to choke.

He looked around quickly at the two unlikely people he had encountered. There stood Kyara Larkin and her baby son Adriano, the latter looking thoroughly aghast at the powers she had just unearthed.

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The line I was talking about, the one that got me excited: it's the last spoken line, Jeri's line. I've waited so long to reveal that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, yes, Anthro's speech does regain incredibly fast. It's almost like running: at first you get off slowly, but then you speed up and you go wicked fast and you can't stop. He's not learning how to talk; he's RElearning.

Book five will probably be up Wednesday or before. It's called The Autumn...and I just realized that most of it takes place in autumn...and that wasn't even planned.