The Divine Path (The Divine Series) (9 page)

“You had better stand back a little,” Kade said as he put his hand up to her and ush
ered her to move.

“Kade, maybe I pushed you a little too much.  Maybe we can do this next time,” Darcienna said with concern thick in her voice.

Kade gave her a look that said he appreciated the thought, but this was going to happen.  He closed his eyes and visualized the moves over and over in his head.  He had to reference the book many times but better that than guess.  He returned to his stance with his hands down at his side as he went through the motions in his mind.  He was not aware that he had been standing for almost an hour, practicing.  And then, the time came.

Cleari
ng all thoughts and focusing, as his teacher taught him, Kade reached for the Divine Power, drawing it into himself.  He molded it with the first move and then slid into the next.  He was committed now.  A part of him felt a sense of panic as there was no turning back.  He knew as soon as he actually started to mold the Divine, he had crossed the point of no return.  Unlike the Lightning Calling that was safe up until the tenth move, this one was dangerous right at the start.

Kade forced himself to focus,
just as his master had taught him.  Zayle used to roar at him at the top of his lungs for allowing distractions, and now they seemed to come at him from every part of his mind. He wished dearly that Zayle were here to watch over him, but it was not to be.  For just a brief moment, his mind compared this to diving to the bottom of a lake and swimming through a tunnel.  He was not sure if he could make it to the end.  He feared panicking half way through that tunnel and drowning.  It was time for the fourth move.  The memory of almost losing control of the Lightning Calling flashed through his mind, and it was all he could do to suppress the terror of what could happen.  There was no room for thinking like this.  His mind reeled for a moment as he focused hard on the next step.  He completed it and then moved onto the fifth.  His stomach was twisted in knots, and he struggled to focus.  He breathed deeply as he felt the Divine Power responding to his graceful shaping.  The end of the tunnel was coming as he completed the sixth move.  He blurted out the word surround in the ancient language and felt like he wanted to collapse to the ground in exhaustion.

There was a momentary flash as a pattern of script, symbols and figures glowed along the ground
only to fade out of sight.  Kade felt himself breathing hard.  Sweat was sliding down his back, and his head was pounding.  He was not sure if it was from his heart or from the thrum of power.  He started to move when he felt an odd tingling in his outstretched hand.  The Divine was still flowing through him.  He felt panic start to well up.  His mind raced to figure out why when he recalled the passage about the amount of Divine Power that was to be used. 

It must still be active and under my control,
Kade thought to himself.  He breathed a small sigh of relief, hoping he had this right.

“Darcienna,” Kade tried to say, but his voice cracked.  He cleared his throat and tried again with better success.  “Darcienna, go over there.  Wait there until I say,” he said, pointing to a spot by a tree, as he focused on the Divine Power.  Without understanding how, he was able to feed more of the
Divine into the calling.  “Okay, walk toward me,” he said while still focusing on the flow.  “Not strong enough.  Go back, and try again.” 

Darcienna walked to the far side and paused.  Just as she reached the starting point, Kade doubled the amount of Power flowing into the calling.  She started back toward him at a nod of his head.  He felt a type of jolt to some part of his brain that he knew nothing about, but it felt right.  He was satisfied with the results and
cut off the flow.  The pattern on the ground flashed once brightly and then faded.  Kade could feel the dull thrum of the calling as it stood ready to warn of approaching danger.

“Okay, that should do it.  Let’s try one more time, and then I am going to sleep,” Kade said so wearily that Darcienna’s heart went out to him. 

She was not sure if it was the dim light, or if she was seeing right, but she could swear that his face was as pale as the moon. 
Was that from using the Divine?
she asked herself. 
Maybe I will stick to using Nature’s Gift.

With a sigh, Darcienna walked to the far edge until he indicated for her to turn and start back.  As she walked, Kade could feel a strong vibration in his head with every step she took.  When he looked down, it was as if she were setting the ground on
fire as she walked.  Her footprints shone brightly for her to see, also.

“I
s this supposed to happen,” Darcienna said in awe as she looked back the way she had come.

“This is the first time I have ever done this so I could not say,” Kade said as he studied the ground.

Closing his eyes and using the Reveal Calling, the ground lit up like it was on fire.  Kade flinched and clenched his jaw.  He knew he had to either leave the calling like it was, expecting Morg to see it if he looked for it, or he had to allow this calling to fade and create another one that was not detectable.  He knew the right answer was to do the calling again.  He could just hear Zayle’s voice in his head now.  “If you are going to perform a calling, you need to do it right, otherwise, you have wasted your time.”  Zayle was right, as he always was.  Kade laughed once, giving in to his master and his master was not even there.  The calling faded.

“Kade, what happened
?” Darcienna asked as she tried to make the ground glow with her footsteps once more.

“Go stand over there by that tree,” Kade said with his eyes closed and his head tilted back in frustration.  Darcienna complied, but what she really wanted to do was tell him no more for the night and to lie down and go to sleep.  But, she could not
because she knew it was important to support this decision.  She knew that Kade was not one to allow failure to stand, and for some reason she could not understand, he had to do the calling again.  She regretted pushing him now as she watched him suffering.

Kade stood still as he worked the calling in his mind over and over until he thought he could do it again as he had the first time.  He referred
to the book once more, making sure his weary brain was understanding and nodded his head in satisfaction.  Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and dove into that deep lake and headed for that tunnel.  He forced his mind to see the moves on the page.  His breathing was far from smooth, but he stayed focused.  Thoughts threatened to invade his mind as they did during the first time, but he vanquished them with the fact that he had completed this calling once, and he was going to complete it again.  Finally, the sixth move and he held out his hand, but the Divine Power did not activate the calling as it had previously.  The pattern did not form.  His mind reeled, and then it hit him what he had done wrong.  He spat out the word for surround so fast he was unsure if it was recognizable.

The pattern blazed into view.  Kade breathed a deep sigh of relief while holding his hand out with the
Divine flowing through it.  He looked at Darcienna and nodded for her to walk forward.  As she entered the pattern, he could feel a tingle in his mind that was feather light.  He focused on how it felt to make sure he would know it, even while asleep.  It was not going to demand his attention, but it should do what he needed, as long as he slept lightly enough.

“It didn’t work,” Darcienna said with a frown as she looked at the ground.  There were no glowing footprints.

“Yes it did,” Kade said with a weak smile.  “I felt a vibration run through my mind, indicating that someone, or something, had entered the area,” he said triumphantly, as he looked at the ground longingly.

Kade closed his eyes and completed the Reveal Calling.  He tilted his head this way and t
hat way as he scanned the area.  If he looked closely, real closely, he could just barely make out a symbol here and a shape there, but it could easily have been mistaken for the reflection of the moon off a rock or moisture on a leaf.  Kade nodded to himself, satisfied and relieved beyond words that he did not have to complete the calling again.

“There, that should make you happy,” Kade said, as if he were talking to Zayle.

“So, you are able to know if someone is coming without them knowing that you know,” Darcienna said to herself as she nodded her head in approval.

Kade did not hear Darcienna as his mind returned to almost a month
prior when he was struggling with the Drift Calling. 
A simple calling, and I could not perform it,
Kade thought. 
Now, it makes perfect sense why Zayle used to get so angry when I failed.  It was not that I did not have the ability, but that I did not put my best effort into every calling I performed. 
Master Zayle hammered Kade for a decade saying, “Using the Divine required complete dedication every time.”
How could I not see something that was so blatantly obvious?  It was just so easy to not try with Zayle there to save me if it went wrong.

“Kade, is everything okay
?” Darcienna asked gently.

“Yes.  I was just thinking about my lessons with Master Zayle,” Kade said, feeling the sa
dness in him threatening to grow.

“You will be able to get revenge for your master,” Darcienna said, trying to cheer him up.

“Justice,” Kade corrected.  “We will get justice,” he said, feeling right about what he had said.

Darcienna chewed on that for a bit and then nodded her head in approval.  She gently put her hand on his arm and smiled.  His eyes focused on hers, and he relaxed as the knots in his stomach began to untie.  His shoulders slumped slightly as he took a deep, long breath and let it out
slowly.  Darcienna thought he was going to deflate to the ground right before her eyes.  Once again, her heart went out to him.

“I think it’s time we get some sleep,” Darcienna said as she coaxed him to lie down next to the fire.  “So
, you can detect someone or something from about thirty feet away?” she asked as she contemplated the ground.

“About that, yes,” Kade said, feeling his muscles start to turn to water.

“And you think that is enough warning?” Darcienna asked, doubt in her voice.

“As soon as I sense something, I’ll signal Rayden.  That should give us enough time, and you ca
n have your shield up immediately.  And besides, I’m still wearing the amulet, so Morg is unable to track us,” Kade said as he feebly reached up for the protective necklace.  He was about to pull his hand away when he felt a tremor run through it.  He became a little more alert as he focused on the feeling.  The amulet warmed slightly.

“What is it
?” Darcienna asked, seeing the concern in his eyes.

“The amulet felt warm for a few seconds.  I think it does that when someone is trying to find me.”

“Did it keep us from being detected?”

“I believe so,” Kade said
with a sigh.  “I am afraid that Morg may break through sometime, though.  It seems that I am feeling the vibrations more and more, and the amulet feels warmer every time,” he said as he put his chin to his chest, trying to look at the protective jewelry.  “This might mean that the amulet has to use more power to keep us cloaked.  If this is true, then there might be a limit to its power.  But, I am sure we have a while before we have to worry about that,” Kade said as his hand fell to his side.

“I hope you’re right,” Darcienna said as she
laid down on the other side of the fire.

“I am.  Now go to sleep.  We need to have our rest,” Kade said as he started to slur his words.

It took only seconds, and Kade was out cold.  His mind fell into a dream where he and Master Zayle had gone for a walk in the forest.  Zayle would patiently tell him about this flower or that creature as they strolled along the path.  Kade enjoyed listening to his master on these walks, but he never really absorbed much of what Zayle said.  But, there was one thing that he did recall, and now it was making more sense than ever.  Zayle used to preach that the more knowledge one had of his surroundings, the less one needed to depend on the Divine.  The way Zayle used to comment about the Divine made Kade feel that his master considered it a bad thing.  Kade never agreed with Zayle’s thinking and looked forward to using the Divine for everything possible. 
Why would anyone not want to use the Divine?
he used to wonder, but now he was seeing things differently.  Zayle had said, “Those that became too dependent on the Divine, would end up losing themselves because of the Divine.”  Something about it being a two-edged sword that, sooner or later, would cut both ways.

Kade was breathing deep
ly and almost completely in the world of dreams when the amulet vibrated stronger than it ever had, warming considerably.  Kade tried to clear his head as his hand reflexively moved up to the necklace, but he slipped deeper into the world of dreams.  Out of nowhere, he felt something kick him in the ribs hard enough to roll him onto his back.  Kade was afraid that several of his ribs were broken as his mind raced. He gasped for breath, struggling to drag his weary mind to wakefulness.  He looked up and his vision cleared.  He was looking into the face of the one person he hated, feared, dreaded more than any other living thing on the planet.  Morg.