The Divine Apprentice (The Divine Series) (31 page)

He lowered himself into a sitting position and immediately felt the heat start to undo the knots in his shoulders.  He laid his head back on a rock that was just under the surface and started to close his eyes when he remembered the dragon.  He looked back toward the cabin but didn’t see Rayden anywhere.

“Rayden, where are you?” Kade yelled out.  There was no answer so Kade focused his mind on his dragon and sent the question again.  He was answered with a roar from the front of the cabin.  Kade chuckled lightly as he realized his mistake.  Of course the dragon was still out front.  How would it know to go behind the cabin?

Come around to the back.  I am already in the water,
Kade mentally called to his friend.

To Kade, it sounded like there was a stampede as the dragon charged around the home and raced for the water.  Kade was just lifting his head to look behind him when all sound of the dragon vanished.  He caught something in his peripheral and flinched hard as the dragon launched itself into the air, passing directly over him by mere feet.  Because of his reflexive action, he smacked his head on the rock that was just under the water’s surface.  A second later, the dragon landed, causing water to splash Kade just as he was taking a breath.  He sat up coughing and sputtering.

Rubbing the water from his eyes, Kade struggled to catch his breath.  As soon as his vision cleared, he could see the dragon not more than fifteen feet away with a strange look on its face.  It was a look that Kade had not seen yet and it puzzled him.  Its mouth was open slightly as it watched him.  Kade could not believe it, but he could swear the dragon was grinning at him.  It just stood there, staring at him as it panted.

“What are you doing?” Kade asked as he shook his hair and rubbed the bump on the back of his head.  The dragon answered by way of splashing a torrent of water at Kade with its tail and then bounding away.  Kade stared, not believing what he was seeing and then laughed like he had not laughed in a very long time.

He stood and waded to the deeper part of the pool.  He stared at the dragon as it bounded along the edge with its head held high, as if to keep it out of the water.  Its eyes were open wide and it had its neck stretched out as it ran, giving it a comical look that caused even more laughter from Kade.  After a moment, the dragon returned to stand just in front of Kade, again, with that same odd look on its face.  He smiled widely as he realized what was about to come.  He formulated his own plan.

“So, you want to play, eh?  Okay, I’ll play,” Kade said just as the dragon sent another torrential downpour at him.  Kade ducked under the water and held his breath, waiting, as Rayden made his circuit around the pool.  Kade watched for Rayden to return and laughed out an air bubble as he pictured what the dragon’s reaction would be when he played his own prank.  It was not long before he saw the splashing racing directly for him.  For just a moment, he thought he might be making a mistake as he visualized the dragon flattening him to the bottom.  To his relief, it stopped very close to where it had the first time.  Kade grinned deviously as he swam forward.  He almost laughed as he closed in on his victim.  Rayden shifted his balance as he looked around.  Kade let out a bubble of laughter and almost lost it completely before forcing himself to get control.  He stopped just in front of Rayden and looked up just as the dragon was looking down at the water.  Before the dragon could reason out what it was seeing, Kade sank to the bottom, planted his feet firmly and then sprang out of the water with a loud “RRRRAAAAA,” showering the dragon with a spray of water.  The dragon was completely taken by surprise as it retreated frantically.  Rayden lost his balance and fell over backward.  Kade laughed so hard he was sure if he did not work his way to more shallow water, he would drown.

The game of who could splash who the most was on.  The dragon raced around the spring, bounding and leaping only to return to splash Kade with its massive tail.  Before Kade had a chance to make his minor splash back, Rayden would bound away again.  They played this game for several more minutes until Kade finally fell over, exhausted.  He was listening to his heart pound from the exertion when he heard a muffled laugh.  He turned quickly to see Darcienna standing on the bank, watching him.  He tried to sink deeper into the water, embarrassed at what she might have seen.

“How long have you been standing there?” Kade asked as he felt the blood, once again, rush to his face.

“You know, your face is going to stay red one of these times,” Darcienna said, deepening Kade’s embarrassment.

“Well?”

“As soon as you two started making all that noise, I had to see what was going on. I couldn’t help watching.  You two looked like you were having so much fun I almost jumped in myself,” Darcienna said with a sly look.

“You obviously have too much fun at my expense,” Kade said, exasperated as he turned back to his dragon.  Darcienna gave a squeak of laughter.  She tried to stifle it with the back of her hand but failed.  Kade’s head whipped around and she quickly looked away.

Kade scoured his memory for any moment he might have been out of the water too much.  With chagrin, he came to the conclusion that he was more out of the water than in the water.  He grunted his frustration as he sat lower in the pool.

“What have you done with my clothes?” Kade asked while pretending to watch the dragon.

“They are soaking in one of the other springs.  I am going to scrub them clean in just a moment.  I don’t want to travel with someone that smells like an animal,” Darcienna said with complete innocence.  Kade caught a look in her eyes and then it disappeared as quickly as it had come.  The corner of her mouth twitched and Kade rolled his eyes, knowing his torture was not over yet.  “I’ll take care of the dragon now,” she said as she hefted the large scrub brush and proceeded to wade into the water directly at him.

“That’s okay,” Kade said a little too quickly.  “I will take care of Rayden myself.”

“Okay.  If you are sure,” Darcienna said as she tossed the brush just a little too high over his head.  He reflexively went to jump for it but stopped and glared hard at her.  The brush made a splash behind him.  With a grin, she turned and casually strolled off, disappearing from sight.

Kade could hear the soft sound of a bristles running back and forth on cloth.  He considered grabbing the scrub brush but decided it could wait just a few minutes longer.  He laid down in the water and let his muscles relax again.  The dragon splashed over and dropped down next to him.  Kade listened to the rhythmic scrubbing of the clothes as he stared up at the sky.  His heart slowed to a more relaxed beat as the rhythm of her cleaning lulled him.

“That’s a cute boy you have.  What’s his name?” Kade called out.

“Thank you.  His name is Marcole.”

It dawned on Kade that he had not seen a man around.  He considered asking about the father of her child but was afraid he might not like the answer.  He cursed himself for a fool for not realizing that she must have a man in her life.  With such a young boy, it would only make sense.  With a sigh, he let it go.

“I only met his father once.  It was in a town two days journey to the south by the name of Corbin.”

“Yes, I know the town.  I was there once,” Kade said, feeling his head spin slightly at the good news.

Darcienna didn’t respond.  The silence stretched on for so long he started to wonder if she were upset.  Kade looked in the direction of the scrubbing sound as he waited for any response.  None came.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” she said in a hesitant voice.  “I was just remembering the night I met Marcole’s father.  I fell in love with him and have been in love with him ever since.  I returned to Corbin several times, but I never saw him again.  I was such a fool.”

Kade’s heart shattered.  He closed his eyes and shook his head.  He hated the sick feeling in his stomach and could not even explain why it was there.

“Kade?” Darcienna asked, the sound of scrubbing stopping.

Kade lost all interest in talking and sat silently.  The minutes dragged on.  He closed his eyes and saw the image of Darcienna.  Her beautiful, blue eyes drifted toward him from the darkness of his mind.  The sensuous way her mouth moved as she spoke haunted him.  He opened his eyes and shook his head to dispatch the image.  This feeling of hurt was ridiculous, but no matter how he tried to reason that it made no sense, he could not dispel it.

“You must think badly of me,” Darcienna said, misunderstanding his silence.

“So, what abilities do you have?” Kade asked weakly, not wanting to talk at all.

Darcienna did not answer right away.  Kade chastised himself for having these foreign feelings.  He vowed to ignore them and force them from his heart.

“You have seen two of them.  The last one is the ability to sense when there is danger.”

“So, are those the only abilities you have?”

“Yes, for now.”

“For now?” Kade asked, feeling a semblance of control returning.

“We normally gain more abilities the longer we are alive.  Unlike you, I cannot just learn something new when I want.  We have to wait until Nature decides to awaken the ability inside of us.  I am still very young.  Jorell…,” Darcienna said and then paused.  After a moment, she took a deep breath, let it out slowly and continued. “Jorell told me that I was lucky to have the abilities I have at my age.  She says every one of my kind develops their abilities differently.  Some may be able to do similar things, but rarely do two people have the exact same skill.  For example, Jorell couldn’t make a shield but she could repel things,” she said as she wrung the water out of the clothes.

Darcienna picked up the outfit and worked her way back to the large pond.  With a smile, she dropped a pink robe onto the grass next to the water.  She spared a quick glance at Kade, and with a smile, said as innocently as possible,” You will have to wear this until your clothes dry.”  Kade was not in the mood for this anymore, but he let it go.

“Did Jorell have a lot of abilities?”

“Oh yes,” Darcienna said with pride. 

Kade paused as he thought about the one monster that had killed his teacher.  He reminded himself that the invisible giant was a lot more dangerous than all the monsters he saw today.  He instantly felt ashamed of himself for his thoughts.

Darcienna’s eyes lingered on the medallion that hung around his neck not more than ten feet from her.  If not for the steep grade of the sand beneath his feet, he would not be this close and still be hidden by water.  Kade slowly looked down to see what she was studying.  He looked up and saw the question in her beautiful eyes but said nothing.  He was not going to offer the information, but not surprisingly, she pretended not to notice his reluctance to answer and asked anyway.

“What’s hanging around your neck?” Darcienna asked.  She leaned forward to get a better look.  It was an image of a man sitting with his legs crossed and his hands together in a prayer.  There were three concentric circles around the man representing a barrier.  There were three symbols on the back, representing the callings active on this ancient artifact.  It looked like it was made of silver, except, it was almost too bright.  He reached up, gripping the medallion tightly.

“Would you mind,” Kade said as he indicated he wanted to exit the water.  She feigned confusion as she smiled sweetly.  Kade glared and she turned her back with a light laugh.

Kade walked almost right up to Darcienna, as she was standing not more than a foot from the robe, and bent to retrieve it.  He was sure, at any moment, she would turn just to embarrass him even more, but to his relief, she stood still.  He took a breath as he quickly swung the robe around himself, as though he were a performer flourishing his cape, and quickly tied the fuzzy belt.

“It’s supposed to keep me from being tracked,” Kade finally offered.

“Are your abilities difficult to use?” Kade asked, bringing the topic back to her.

“Difficult?  No.  I just need to concentrate on doing it and then it happens.”

“You don’t have to perform any moves?” Kade asked, recalling how she put her hands on his when she used her healing abilities.

“Are your powers difficult to use?” Darcienna asked, ignoring his question.

“Divine Powers,” he corrected.

“Divine Powers,” she repeated as she turned to face him.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Kade said with a sigh.  “It is very dangerous if done wrong,” he said as he looked at the soaked bandage hanging from his hand.

“I guess both our ways have their advantages and disadvantages.”

Darcienna glanced one last time at the medallion and then headed for the cabin.  Kade turned to see the dragon panting as it lay in the hot water.  He decided to leave it to its own and followed after her.

Walking through the back door, Kade could hear Darcienna in her bedroom.  She called out for him to dress in the adjacent room.  Kade found his clothes laid out on the bed and picked them up, marveling at how much better they looked.  The smell was much improved, also.  They were still damp, of course.  Kade looked at the pink robe and made the obvious choice between the two sets of clothes.  It was not comfortable wearing the wet outfit, but it was much better for his pride.

“You sure are full of surprises,” Darcienna called from the front of the cabin.  “What a beautiful animal you have.  This is your animal with the books?” Darcienna asked as she knelt down in an attempt to get close.