“Flighters” was Siry’s response as he took off to join his friends.
Before I knew it, I was alone in the bizarre campsite. I was about to become involved in something that sounded dangerous. I wondered if the tribunal would consider this the kind of trouble I wasn’t supposed to get into. Before I had a chance to talk myself out of it I ran into the jungle after Siry and the Jakills, ready for… I didn’t know what.
(CONTINUED)
IBARA
I followed the Jakills through the dense jungle, running to keep up. It wasn’t easy. They knew every root and rock. I had to stay focused and drive myself forward without driving my head into the ground. They ran like jungle cats, leaping over fallen trees and ducking under branches without breaking stride. I ran more like a confused turtle, getting slashed by branches and trying not to break my neck. Making it worse, I had to keep looking up to see where they were going. It took all of two minutes before I totally lost them. I was alone in the jungle. Lost. I looked around, ready to run, but to where? I was tired and frantic and felt a little more than helpless.
I gulped air, turned, and came face-to-face with the blond thief. I jumped in surprise. Where had he come from?
“This way,” he commanded, and took off again.
I didn’t hesitate and ran after him. Soon we were climbing up a vine-tangled rocky ridge. I kept scraping my arms on the sharp walls and getting my ankles caught by vines that seemed to be reaching out to grab me. The blond guy didn’t have trouble at all. If anything, he kept slowing down to let me catch up.
Finally we broke out of the jungle cover, onto a rocky ledge on the side of the mountain. Several of the Jakills were already there, including Siry. They were all looking intently below. Nobody acknowledged my arrival.
It was an incredible view. The village was spread out beneath us. Beyond that was the vast green bay and then the ocean. It made me feel as if we were on an island. I sat down to catch my breath and watch Siry. He crouched low, scanning the village like a cat searching for prey. His eyes were narrow and focused. Nobody spoke until…
“There,” he said, pointing.
We looked to see movement in the jungle far below. There seemed to be a group of people making their way through the dense brush toward the edge of the village. We were too high up and the jungle was too thick to see what they looked like, but by the movement of trees and the brief flashes of bodies I could tell they were spread out and moving cautiously.
“There’s more than just them,” one of the guys warned who had first run into the clearing to sound the alarm. “Lots more.”
“What are they doing?” Twig whispered.
While everyone kept their eyes on the movement below, Siry looked elsewhere. Up until then, Siry’s attitude was one of defiance and anger. At that moment I saw he had more going on than that. He was focused. His mind was working. There was definitely more to Siry than I first had thought.
“Look,” Twig exclaimed. “Smoke. They’re going to burn something.”
I saw a thin wisp of black smoke rise above the trees where the group of Flighters were moving. Who were those guys? I figured I’d find out soon enough.
“Let’s go,” the little guy with the ratty eyes exclaimed. He made a move to climb down, but Siry quickly put an arm out to stop him.
“No.” Siry ordered with authority.
“Why not?” the ratty guy whined. “We can stop them.”
“Wait,” Siry insisted.
A few moments later I saw smoke rising up near the edge of the village. Twig was right. The Flighters had set fire to something.
“They’re torching huts!” Twig exclaimed.
Siry didn’t react. He kept his eyes on the jungle below. Focused. Scanning. “An alarm will sound,” he said as if thinking out loud. “The security force will come running.”
Sure enough, a loud horn began to wail. The sharp, droning sound grew loud enough so that every person in the village could hear it.
Siry nodded knowingly. “The entire force will rush to put out the fire and meet the enemy like the heroes they think they are. Idiots.”
The ratty guy laughed and said, “Yeah! Idiots!” He quickly frowned and asked, “Why are they idiots?”
Siry kept his eyes on the village. I kept my eyes on Siry. He pointed down to the other side of the village from where the fire was being set.
“The fire is a decoy,” he announced. “There are the others.”
We all looked to see more movement in the jungle below. A group of Flighters, or whatever they were, was moving in the opposite direction from the fire.
The blond guy declared, “They’re headed for the mountain. The tribunal. If the entire security force is on the other side of the village-“
“The tribunal isn’t protected,” Siry said. He stood up and looked at the others. “That’s where we need to be,” he said, and scrambled down the side of the mountain.
The Jakills were right after him. I was right after them. None of this made sense.
I thought the Jakills were a bunch of outlaws. There was no question that the tribunal thought Siry was a criminal. They had just sentenced him to a year of hard labor! Yet he was willing to take on invaders to protect the very people he called “evil.” There was nothing about Ibara that made sense. All I could do was keep up and hope to find some answers.
I also had to hope I wouldn’t trip and crash while running down the rocky, vine-covered slope. The Jakills had grown up in this jungle. They knew it and moved through the uneven terrain as easily as if they were running across artificial turf. They were nearly silent, too. The only sound I heard was my own clumsy crashing and bashing along. Nobody slowed down to help me this time. They had to get down the slope and head off the Flighters before they reached the mountain cave. I’m guessing the ledge we were on was about a half mile up the side of that mountain. When we started after them, the Flighters were only a few hundred yards from the mouth of the cave leading to where the tribunal met. If there was any hope of catching them, we’d have to be fast, and hope the Flighters were slow.
The ground leveled out. I hadn’t fallen, yet. The Jakills had gotten pretty far ahead of me, but the jungle was thinning, so I could see them. Or most of them. I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going, so I ran straight ahead. I would have kept going if I hadn’t been suddenly grabbed by some strong hands and pulled down into the shadows of a leafy bush.
It was the blond guy, again. He looked at me and gave me a silent “shhhh” sign. It’s not easy to catch your breath silently, but I tried. Glancing around I saw the Jakills stretched out around me, all looking ahead. All hiding. All alert.
I felt a tap on my shoulder and nearly jumped out of my skin. Spinning, I saw that Siry had slid in next to me. Man, he was quiet.
“They’re just ahead of us,” he whispered. “Who are they?” I whispered back. “Stay here and watch,” he ordered. “What are you going to do?”
Siry gave me a cocky smile and said, “My father thought we were a bunch of misfit kids. Maybe he was right. But never, ever cross us.”
“Siry, what are you going to do?” I asked again.
He motioned for the others. The entire line of Jakills, I’m guessing there were around fifteen, crept slowly forward, crouched low, moving silently. I stayed behind them. I was only there as an observer. The line moved forward, creeping through the brush. Nobody said a word. I had the feeling they had done this kind of thing before. We’d been moving for about a minute when I saw something ahead of us. Everyone noticed at the same time and stopped.
