The Divine Path (The Divine Series) (34 page)

“I knew you could be reasonable,” Morg said in an overly exaggerated manner of civility. 
His voice was deep and commanding.

Kade wanted nothing more than to run to Darcienna and take her in his arms.  He
desperately wanted to save her and whisk her away to somewhere, anywhere that she did not have to be in danger.  He yearned to heal her and see those beautiful eyes looking at him again.  His heart ached for failing to protect her.  It did not matter that she wanted to go off on her own.  He knew better and should have made sure she was safe.  It was his fault.  The guilt was crushing.  The despair was so thick he could taste it.

Kade knew that somehow he had to think his way through this. 
“There is always a solution to every problem,” Zayle used to say. 
What is the solution to this one?
Kade asked himself.  He thought back on Morg when he had first came out of the mansion.  Morg was not able to see him but the earth creatures were.  How?  And then it hit him.

Rayden, they are closing in.  They can sense movement.  You need to stay clear of them and move as carefully as possible, as though you are on the hunt.  You must make sure not to disturb the ground,
Kade thought frantically. 
You must go now!  Don’t argue!  I will call to you when I need.  Now!  Go!

Rayden turned and
ran toward the advancing creatures.  They braced, sensing his position as he moved.  He leapt high over them to land on the other side.  The creatures spun as one and moved toward the dragon. 

If they sense you, then do your best to keep them busy while I figure this out,
Kade sent to the dragon.  Rayden roared a challenge, but Kade was the only one who heard.  He turned back to Morg and continued to work on formulating a plan.  There had to be a way out of this.

“Come now, Kade.  It is Kade that I am speaking to, is it not
?” Morg asked as he waited for a response.  After several seconds, he sighed and continued.  “You can’t stay invisible forever.  I know you are still there.  You see, my earth creatures have told me you are still there, so you might as well come out.  Come now.  Show yourself so we can talk like normal, civilized men,” Morg said.  Kade even thought that Morg actually sounded sincere.  He wondered if the man might actually be stark raving mad.  He genuinely sounded like he believed what he was saying.  “You do want to heal her, don’t you?” Morg asked in all sincerity.  He was incredibly convincing.

“You mean man to rat,” Kade said
as he released the Silence Calling.  He knew Morg had him, and besides, he couldn’t just leave Darcienna.

“At least we are making progress,” Morg said as he smiled.  “Oh, by the way, in case you did not notice, your woman is in need of healing.  I suggest you comply with my requests or she may die of her injuries,” he said as he looked at her with
mock concern.  It was so convincing that Kade had to remind himself of who it was he faced.  This man cared for nothing but achieving his own goal, even if it meant her dying.  Morg brought the staff to his side and let the butt end of it thud on the ground.  Darcienna fell in a heap and moaned from the jarring impact.  “She probably won’t last much longer,” Morg said as he looked down on her, feigning concern.

“I will trade myself
for her.”

“Oh, of course,” Morg said in his most reassuring voice.  He acted shocked that Kade would think he might do anything other than let her go.

“Move these creatures away and I will come out,” Kade said.

“That is one option,” Morg said, pretending to consider Kade’s words.  “But, I would rather have you remove your Transparency Calling first, then I will have them move out of your way,” Morg said as if that was the
most obvious course of action.

Kade let the calling fade while making sure to keep the dragon cloaked.  He looked back to see that many of the earth creatures appeared to be disorganized.  The
y seemed to be wandering around aimlessly.  What they were really doing was trying to get a sense of where the dragon was.  Kade was grateful that at least something was going right.

Morg
grinned.  Kade saw the smile and felt like a mouse that had just been cornered by a cat.  He swallowed hard as he tried his best to convince himself he was not scared, but he was failing miserably.  He forced himself to breathe as Zayle had taught him.  It was supposed to help him stay calm.  He met Morg’s gaze and made himself keep it.  Morg slowly raised the staff and pointed the head of it at his target as a grin crept across his face.  Kade felt a net of power descend on him.  To his horror, he no longer had control of his body.  He could barely breathe.  He did his best to glare, but his mind was struggling to stay in control as panic made his heart pound hard.  Everything was falling apart.  All he had left was the dragon and the few meager callings that could be done without the use of his hands.  But, he was not about to call the dragon only to watch it die.  Rayden might make the difference between if he could just figure out a way to use him at the right time.

“Now,” Morg
said, all pretenses of pleasantries gone.  “I said come to me,” he said with a hiss, anger in his voice.  He was pure malevolence.

Kade felt his body lurch forward.  He clenched his jaw as he fought the compulsion, but at best, he was only able to hesitate momentarily.  His body stopped next to Darcienna.  Morg was playing with him, teasing him, making him look down on her to make him suffer.  Kade knew there was no chance that Morg was going to honor his word. 

“Oh, when I said you could heal your little trollop, I lied.  I changed my mind about something else, also.  I believe I am going to keep you both for myself.  I may even take that pretty little thing for my own…if she lives.  She may not,” Morg said as he feigned sadness while he studied her.  His mood seemed to change with the wind.

Morg turned and headed toward
the house with his captive stumbling along.  Just as Kade started to move, he noticed that Darcienna’s hands had fallen in such a way that both palms were facing upward.  It was only a moment, and then his focus returned to the evil Chosen.

Morg
whistled the entire time as he walked the distance to the mansion.  He climbed the steps and marched over to the larger earth being, looking up at it.  Kade was sure he could sense hatred from it, but that rock-face was hard to read.

“Where is the dragon
?” Morg asked calmly but there was a danger underlying his tone. 

Kade even got the impression that the cre
ature wanted to take a threatening step forward but held its place.  Rock-face said something that Kade could not make out.  A vein started to pulse in Morg’s neck.  He turned and Kade could see lines of anger creasing his face.  Kade was afraid and there was no way he could convince himself otherwise.  Morg turned and walked up to stand nose to nose with the Apprentice Chosen.  Morg looked him directly in the eye and enunciated each word as he spoke.

“Where…is…your…dragon?” Morg asked in anger
, spittle flying in Kade’s face.

Before K
ade could offer his lie, the earth creatures found Rayden and were converging on him quickly.  One of them went down as the dragon charged it.  Morg’s head whipped around and the staff came up.  Morg snarled a word and the ancient piece of wood jumped.  One of the earth creatures exploded.  Morg fired wildly and several more of them went down.  The large one on the porch roared as it charged the evil Chosen.  Its footsteps echoed off the wood as it closed the distance.  Kade waited for its feet to crash through the boards as it thundered toward Morg.  Each step shook the entire mansion.  Morg stopped his assault and turned to glare at Rock-face as it leaned down to glare into his eyes.  There was obviously a contest of wills going on as they peered hard at each other.

“Just be glad it was not you,” Morg said as he gripped the staff tighter.

Rock-face stood his ground for several long seconds.  The air was thick with tension.  Kade took pleasure in the nervous twitch that had developed in Morg’s left eye.  Kade was certain that the two were about to come to blows any second and prayed for it to happen.  Before the creature could move any further, Kade could feel the Divine flowing strongly.  He could almost see bands forming around the creature as the Chosen concentrated.  Morg’s grip on the staff tightened and the bands constricted, sinking into the creature.  It snarled and then stood up slowly.  It walked out into the field with the two smaller ones in tow.  The three picked up the pieces of their fallen comrades and seemed to melt into the ground.  After a few seconds, they all melted into the ground and the field was empty.

“Nifty little calling,” Morg said with a chuckle.  “Not quite the same as the one on you.  Oh no.  That one
I used on them works on their will.  It binds them to do my bidding,” he said as his lip curled in contempt as another thought occurred to him.  “They don’t mind when they die in battle.  But to die outside of battle is dishonorable,” Morg said as though he and Kade were having a friendly chat.  “Does that make any sense?” Morg asked as if he truly wanted an answer.

Kade
, still paralyzed, was unable to answer.  Morg seemed to take offense at Kade’s refusal to answer and swung the heavy staff like a club, hitting him in the back of the head.   Kade fell forward, his ears ringing furiously.  His body stood up and waited.  If it were up to him, he would still be on all fours, unable to think, let alone stand.

“That’s right.  Y
ou can’t talk can you?  How rude of me.  Here,” Morg said as he aimed the staff at Kade.  The Apprentice Chosen’s mouth went slack and his head sagged forward.  “By the way, don’t be surprised when your muscles start to hurt.  This calling is not very good for the body,” Morg said as he wrinkled his nose.

“They will turn on you,” Kade said weakly, his head still spinning.

“That will be the first and last time that they ever do, then,” Morg said as he considered the field, the dragon all but forgotten.

Morg turned
toward the house to go in and stopped.  He turned toward Kade as he narrowed his eyes.  Kade trembled inside as Morg studied him.

“You’re not one of those people
, who like to talk nonstop, are you?  Morg asked as if this was truly important.  Kade stared, speechless, sure he was looking at a madman.  “Okay, I take that as a no.  Good,” he said as he turned and went into the mansion.

“Why?” Kade asked
as they walked into a den.  There were hundreds of books on shelves that lined the walls.

“Why what
?” Morg asked as he walked over to the most plush leather chair Kade had ever seen and turned as if ready to sit.  He stood there on the verge of sitting and paused.   He waited for Kade’s answer while his eyes searched for something in one of the cabinets along the wall.  “Why do I ask if you talk too much?” he asked, his eyebrows raised as he continued to scan.

“Why keep me alive
?” Kade asked, his head much clearer now. 

Morg turned
toward him, unbelieving of what he was hearing.  He watched Kade for several seconds, trying to figure out if the Apprentice Chosen was playing some practical joke on him.  Realizing that Kade was being sincere, he started to laugh, and when he was about to stop, started to laugh all over again.

“Mind explaining
?” Kade asked, still standing ridged just inside the doorway.

Morg found this
incredibly amusing, and it was starting to grate on Kade’s nerves.  His fear was easing the more they talked.  There was something important going on here and Kade intended to figure it out.  If he could just keep Morg talking, then maybe, just maybe, he could learn something he could use.  How he was going to get out of this was unknown, yet, but at least he was not dead, nor did it appear that Morg intended to kill him anytime soon.

“You really don’t know.
  That’s incredible.  He never told you,” Morg said as he put the staff in the crook of his arm.  He pulled a bottle off a shelf and poured the liquid into two separate glasses.  Kade was certain that Morg was talking more to himself than to him.  “I guess it couldn’t hurt,” he said as he walked up to Kade with the glass held out for him. 

Morg seemed confused for a moment and then it occurred to him why Kade was not taking the offered drink.  He set the drink down on a table next to the only other chair in the room and put his hand on the staff.   He motioned for Kade to sit.  Kade’s body lurched to the chair and sat.  Morg waived the staff absentmindedly
toward him.  His right arm fell to his side.  Kade flexed his fingers and tried to reach for the glass.  His arm moved in a jerky motion.  Kade flexed his muscles hard several times until they felt right and then tried again.  He casually took the glass as though he had nothing to fear and lifted it to his lips, taking a sip.  He was surprised at the smooth tasting spirits and felt it working its way down to his stomach.

“You will find out anyway,” Morg said as he took a drink from his glass.  He smiled, appreciating the potency
of the ale.  He closed his eyes as he savored the flavor and then exhaled as if preparing to tell a long story.  “Have you ever wondered about the almighty Great Divine?” Morg asked as he tilted his head to the side in thought as he studied Kade.  “You have,” Morg said as though Kade had answered.  “Good.  I’ll explain a few things.  You see, a long time ago there were only a hand full of people, the original Ancients, who had learned the laws of the Divine and kept it all for themselves. It took them centuries to discover its secrets, but once they were able to tap into the Divine, they devoted themselves to learning everything about it.  They learned the language, the gestures, they learned it all.  Their thirst for knowledge was unequaled.  They even made this,” Morg said as he looked lovingly at the staff that he held in his right hand.  “They had so much power it was incomprehensible.”