‘You know not what you are dealing with in this world. The Daijuar are powerful, but I have learned a little of their art. With access to their hideouts, I will master it. I will train an entire army … yours, perhaps.’
Alkon stood up straight, still in disbelief. All he could manage was a small nod as he turned his eyes downward away from Kobin. Suddenly he found it almost impossible to maintain eye contact.
‘Leave this area with only limited security and keep the boy alive. What do you say?’ asked Kobin.
Alkon forced himself to look at Kobin, hatred and anger locking his stare. ‘If your words prove false, you will give your life back to the earth without question.’
‘I understand,’ said Kobin after a moment’s consideration. ‘And if I am right?’
‘Then you are right,’ said Alkon, and quickly he turned away and walked down the ramp, Kobin’s laughter filling his ears from behind him all the way.
Chapter Ten
If nothing else, go on for the dream’s sake.
January 16, 997 R.E.
Jaden’s eyes eased open to darkness. He sat up, searching around him. The fist-sized rocks were still in place, but he knew this only by the slight reflection of the fort’s lights. Night had come. He had slept through the entire day. He thought it unlikely now that he would return to the other survivors by this night as he had said, but if he could gain entrance to the fort in the next hour or two, he would be able to make it back by dawn. But first he had to contend with the strange black devices the man had planted in the ground. He couldn’t simply sneak into the fort anymore, not while the devices were still intact. He guessed them to be sensors, a means of alerting the Alliance of intruders. One step and he would be caught.
With the rocks he had gathered earlier, he made his way into the ferns. His plan was to knock a sensor down, that way he believed the connections would go down and they would require the man to come back and fix it. This would hopefully give him time to pass through undetected, as long as he timed it so he could get in before the change of guard had taken place. Two new guards were posted at the entrance. He hoped it would not be long now before they would change over again, and that he was right about the sensors. His experience with such devices was extremely limited, as there was no need for them in Callibra. He didn’t actually understand how they worked. All he could do now was stick to his plan and hope for the best.
An hour passed as Jaden patiently awaited the change, practising his throwing movements to best hit the black device eight yards in front of him. It was a tough shot. He had to find a balance of power and speed to first keep low and make the distance, and then to break the final curtain of leaves to hit the device on the other side. He could barely see it from where he was, relying on a guessed marker more than his sight.
Another half hour passed before he noticed the guards begin to move.
This was it. This was his chance.
Quickly he began to throw the rocks, the first missing badly and bouncing up toward the fort. The second looked as if it had hit, but he couldn’t be sure from this distance. He threw the third unsuccessfully but then paused. The guards walking into the fort no longer blocked the way. The replacements would see the rocks if he threw any more. Seconds passed. Where were they? Jaden squinted to help see through the fern leaves. It seemed by the shadowy figures that one of the approaching guards had fallen and was now being helped up by the other. He looked to be the same smaller-framed man who had stood guard in the morning, the man who did not seem so worthy of fear.
Jaden took the opportunity to make several more attempts at hitting the device, but each returned the same result. It seemed his efforts were in vain. He realised even if he were to knock the sensor out, he still couldn’t sneak into the fort until the next change of shift, whenever that was going to be. Would the other survivors still wait for him? He couldn’t be sure. It had to be now.
Half-heartedly, he threw the final rock, but then froze once more as he saw that the guards had exited the fort just as the rock finished its second bounce.
‘Who-who’s out there?’ asked the smaller framed guard in a whimpering voice. The guard gradually moved forward with his weapon ready. ‘Who’s out—?’
‘No one!’ growled the second guard. ‘Get back here. Now! I won’t warn you again.’
The smaller guard ignored the command and continued to move forward, trembling, toward Jaden. ‘Mother? Is that you? I’m here, Mother. I’ve come back!’
Jaden began to inch backward, attempting to remove himself from the edge of the clearing. Once safely far back enough he began to move faster, and soon he was no longer able to hear the guard’s strange pleas.