The Divine Path (The Divine Series) (8 page)

“I was trying to figure out a way to feed the dragon without having to make so many little pieces.  It barely keeps him satisfied,” Kade said, glancing at Rayden.

“I can see the problem,” Darcienna said and then took a bite of meat.  Her hands were greasy from the hot,
juicy food, and yet, she still looked elegant where he would have looked like a brute.

“You do
?” Kade asked, curious.

“Maybe.
  Explain more to me,” Darcienna said between bites.

“This
calling seems to only be able to create a certain amount of food each time.  I am trying to make a larger piece so I am not always making so much.  I want to perform one or two callings and be done with feeding him,” Kade said.

“And what were you trying that you thought might b
e different?” Darcienna asked as her mind digested every possible clue.

“Well, I was trying to call on more of the Divine to make a larger piece, but I can’t seem to draw in enough of the power.”

“But, how would you know if you had drawn in more, if it always feels the same?”

“Oh, I have channeled ten times that amount before?”

“You have?”  Darcienna said as she stopped chewing, her eyes going wide.  “When?”

“When I was fighting Morg,” Kade said as he watched her contemplate this information.

“I think I may know what the issue is,” Darcienna said.

“What then
?” Kade asked, eager to hear her discovery.

“It’s not that you can’t draw on more of it, if I understand this correctly, it’s that you are not letting yourself draw on as much as you want.  I am guessing the block is in you.”

“So…if I can remove the block, I should be able to call on more,” Kade said a bit more excited, seeing her point.  He looked at her, but she was not looking back with the enthusiasm he expected.  He narrowed his eyes and watched her, waiting for her to respond.  He could see there was more and started to get the same uncomfortable feeling he had when he last spoke with his father.  She sighed and slowly looked up at him.

“Kade, the only time you have called on more is when you have been so enraged that you were beyond reason,” Darcien
na said.  “If that is the only way, then…,” she started to say, but let the thought trail off.

“Then I cannot do it,” Kade finished.  “I cannot channel that much power unless I can ensure I am in control.  I am starting to understand,” Kade said as he looked out over the lake.  Darcienna got the distinct impression that he was talking about something else completely.  She raised an eyebrow in question, but he waved
it away.

He stood with a sigh and walked over to the sack of books, looking down on them without really seeing them.  After a few seconds, he shook his head slightly to dismiss his thoughts and returned to the fire with the sack.  He
laid on the ground and put his head on the books.  He stared into the fire as he mulled over what Darcienna had said.  More of the puzzle came together, and he was not liking what he was seeing.

“How can you just go to sleep when Morg could ambush us
?” Darcienna asked, still sitting in the same spot.

“You weren’t worried last night. 
How come all the worry now?” Kade asked as he rolled onto his back and looked up at her.

“Last night I was too tired to think straight,
and we had a little too much to drink, don’t you think?”

“You did not seem to worry during the day,” Kade said, as he watched her.

“That is because we were all awake,” Darcienna said, exasperated.  “No matter what Morg does, I don’t think he can kill us that easily.  I can sense if he is going to try, and the dragon can deal with almost anything he sends.  And your callings are formidable.  But, if we are asleep, he could sneak right up on us,” she said as if he were a child.

“You would not wake up
?” Kade asked in shock, ignoring her condescending tone.  “You would sleep right through the warning?”

“I am not sure it works while I am
asleep,” Darcienna said grimly.  “And, I do not want to find out the hard way.”

“Well, I am sure that Rayden would sense if someone got close,” Kade said
as he leaned on his elbow and looked over at the dragon.  

Rayden was out completely.  Darcienna got up and walked over to the dragon.  She shoved Rayden and stepped back.  His eyelids fluttered slightly, his breathing faltered just barely, and then he returned back to his rhythmic breathing.  Darcienna gave Kade a look, and he held up his hands in surrender.

“What do you want to do?  Take turns staying awake?” Kade asked, dearly wanting to relax and close his eyes.

“No.  Don’t you have any callings you can use to warn us if someone comes while we are sleeping?”

“I don’t know any callings like that,” Kade said as he mentally scrolled through his limited repertoire.  “But, I could look and see if I can find a simple one.  A very simple one,” he said, putting heavy emphasis on the word simple.  He was not in the mood to try to stumble through a new calling while this tired.  This felt like a bad idea, but just going to sleep was a bad idea, also.

“I’d feel much better if we tried instead of just leaving it to chance,” Darcienna said, full of confidence in him.  He cringed.  She just did not understand the full depth of the danger of the situation.  Learning a calling should take days.  Learning a cal
ling while this tired?  Foolish!  He would make a good show of it and then put the book back away where it belonged.

Kade sat up and opened the sack carefully, as if it contained a venomous snake.  He pulled out the pile of prized knowledge and sat it on the ground gently.  Anytime he contemplated untying the strap, he handled them like they were going to explode at any moment.  They were cinched so tight
ly that the pile of books felt like a brick.  He undid the leather strap, handling them as if a calling was going to trigger at the lightest touch.  He gently took out the main book of callings and then cinched the remaining ones tightly.  He performed the Disarm Calling and laid his hand on the cover.  As casually as he could, he pulled the book open.  He relaxed, grateful that he was able to hide his anxiety from Darcienna.

Darcienna had her hand on Kade’s shoulder as he placed his hand on the cover of
the book.  His body was tense.  As if his muscles were not already tight enough, they turned to iron as he flipped the book open.  As Kade laid the cover on his lap, she felt his arm quiver slightly as the muscles fought to unwind.  She looked at the side of his face, watching as the muscle that ran along his jaw unclenched.  He turned toward her, and she smiled sweetly.  He smiled back.  He was trying hard to keep her from worrying, but unless she were a corpse, she could not miss all those signs.

Kade turned page after page, looki
ng for something that would fit the situation.  Darcienna sat, looking over his shoulder, feeling privileged as if she were looking at some ancient secret knowledge.  She thought back on their conversation about how each Chosen guards his callings with his life, and here she was, looking at his as if it was nothing.

“Would I be able to perform any of these
?” Darcienna asked.

“If you had the ability, and that is a big if, it would most likely take you years and years just to sense the Divin
e.  I had to meditate every day for hours at a time to even feel it.  It’s like reaching into a pool of water.  At first, it all feels the same.  But, the more you do this, the more you start to feel the subtle differences.  It took me so long that my master almost gave up on me,” Kade said as he glanced at her.  “It took me more than five years to sense it and then another four to really make any progress.”

“How did you know you had the ability in the first place?”

“I didn’t.  I would have never known I could do what I can if it were not for Zayle.  He could see it in me.  He had a way of seeing things about people.  All Chosen have something that develops in them.  It’s said to be a gift from the Divine.  Zayle explained it to me once.  He told me that he could look into a flame and see things,” Kade said, recalling his father’s story about those five words Zayle spoke.  “And, some can do other things like communicate with others without calling on the Divine,” Kade said as he recalled the voice in his head.

“Oh,” Darcienna said.  “Would you be willing to teach me…if I can call on the Divine
?” she asked a bit timidly.  She was unsure if there was a secret to becoming one of the Chosen. 
Maybe there was some initiation or there was an approval process,
she thought.

“I don’t know if there is more involved to being allowed to channel the Divine
, but I would not be against it if it was allowed,” Kade said as he glanced up from the book.  “But, don’t forget, it could take five years or even ten just to sense it if you can even sense it at all.  And, it might not work due to your Nature’s Gift.  There is a lot that is unknown.  You must never forget that it is extremely dangerous.  You must never take it lightly,” he said gravely.  He could hear the very same words said to him, but in the voice of his master.

“I understand,”
Darcienna said.  “I don’t have anything else planned after this if we are…,” she was saying when Kade firmly interrupted her.

“When,” Kade said quickly, correcting her.  “When we are successful,” he repeated, leaving no room for doubt.  She smiled and loved him for his confidence.  It made her feel safe.  It was definitely one of the things she admired about him.

“When we finish this,” Darcienna repeated with a smile.  “That’s what I like about you, Kade.  You are always optimistic, and you never give up,” she said as she laid her hand on his cheek.

He enjoyed the way her hand gave him a warm feeling inside.  There was a struggle ragin
g in him as the feel of her touch lingered on his cheek.  His heart was at war with the common sense part of his mind.  He wanted to keep his head clear, and yet, when he built up that wall, she was able to make it evaporate. 

Why am I so weak?
he asked himself

“Kade
?” Darcienna asked.

“I’m sorry.  I was off in thought.  Did you say something
?” Kade asked.

“I was just asking if you thought there might be something you can use,” Darcienna said as she indicated the book.

“I am not sure.  I am still looking,” Kade said as he closely scrutinized each calling. 

He had looked at over thirty one callings when he came to the thirty second.  Darcienna squeezed his shoulder
as he read.  He stopped and turned to look at her.

“This looks like what we want,” Kade said as he returned to reading the page.  “Yes, this looks like what we need.”

Detection Calling:

This will allow the user to place a calling on the area approximately sixty feet in diameter.  While creating the calling, it is important to pay close attention to how much of the Divine Power is used.  The more Divine Power
used, the more sensitive the calling will be.  If too much power is used, then one who is strong in the use of the Divine Power will be able to sense the calling.

There were six moves to the calling.  Kade studied them for several long minutes.  At the end of the calling, he was to say the word
surround in the ancient language, and the calling would be cast.

“Why are you taking so long
?” she asked.

“Darcienna, there is no room for mistakes,” Kade said, exasperated.  “If I do the calling wrong, there will be no undoing the damage I cause.  If I do the calling incorrectly, I might change you into a tree or make myself float off the ground
and never come back.  If I had Zayle here, I could do the calling over and over until I got it right.  Zayle could do something that would snuff out the Divine Power before I could kill myself with it.  Now, I do not have that protection.  I absolutely must get it right the first time.  There is no room for mistakes,” Kade said as Darcienna stared at him in awe.

“You mean…every time you do a calling of any kind…you could have that happen
?” Darcienna asked as she considered how many times he must have used the Divine in the last few days.

“Yes,” Kade said firmly, driving the point home.  He thought about reminding her of the damage done to his arm from the Lightning Calling, but the look on her face said she understood.

“Take all the time you want,” Darcienna said, sitting back a little, glancing at the arm that she had healed.  “When you said dangerous, I didn’t know you meant dangerous like that.  I thought that,” she said, indicating his arm, “was just a careless mistake.”  She realized her insult a little too late but Kade waved her away.  It was a careless mistake and Zayle would have made sure Kade knew it, too.

He
returned to studying the calling.  He read for twenty more minutes before he started the small hand movements.  Hours slid by as the moon crawled across the sky.  He finished his last practice movements with the calling and decided it was time to focus on actually performing the calling.  He did his best to ignore the knot in his stomach and tried to clear his mind of all distraction.  He was weary and wanted sleep badly, but he knew Darcienna was right about not letting down their guard.