The Divine Path (The Divine Series) (10 page)

*CH3*

“How did you get past my Detection Calling?” Kade wheezed, his mind struggling to grasp what was happening.

“Your
puny calling is no match for me.  You are just a child playing at being a man,” Morg said as he sneered.

Kade spared a quick glance at the other side of the fire and found it empty.  Darcienna was nowhere to be found.  He turned quickly to call for his dragon, but Rayden was also mysteriously missing.  Something was more wrong here than
what he could see.  Morg glanced in the direction Kade was looking and narrowed his eyes.

“Hoping
for help?  Don’t expect any,” Morg said, taking immense satisfaction in Kade’s confusion.  Morg was the type that would skin a cat alive just to hear it howl.  “The only thing you need to consider is do you want to die quickly or long and torturously?”

“What did you do with them
?” Kade asked with venom in his voice.  He felt anger growing in him like an avalanche.  The Divine Power rushed to embrace him like a long lost lover.  Kade reveled in it and let it sink into every part of his being.  The rage filled him and became him.  He became the rage.  They were one and the same.  Hate was power and he filled his heart with it.  The pain from his injury faded.

“Them,” Morg said as he peered at Kade.  It was more a contemplative response but Kade
was too far gone to see this, too far gone to think clearly.

The
pain in his side was distant as the power surged through him
.  Revenge
, he thought.  He needed revenge, craved it more than anything.  His lips curled and he let out a growl as he lunged like a snake striking its prey and caught Morg in the knee with a boot.  The evil Chosen let out a howl as he stumbled backward a step and then recovered immediately.  In one swift movement, he stepped forward while raising a heavy, ornate staff, and then brought it down on Kade’s head with a heavy crack.  The world spun dangerously under that blow.  Kade focused on his hate for Morg and kept himself from collapsing to the ground.  He threw himself clumsily to the side, rolled to his knees and then stumbled to his feet as he tried to clear his head enough to cast a calling.  Every move to the Lightning Calling beckoned for him to empower it.

“You would not get even the first move completed before I was able to blast you into a thousand pieces,” Morg said as he leveled the
staff at Kade’s face.  It was so close that Kade almost went cross-eyed to look at it.  There were symbols carved in almost every inch of the wood, and it even seemed as if they were alive with power, but that could not be.  His hate waivered just slightly and a sliver of logic slipped into his consciousness.  Somewhere inside, he realized that if he were to survive this, he needed to think his way through it.  He pushed the blackness back from his heart with effort.  He watched the staff retreat until Morg held it vertical with the butt end of it on the ground.  It was approximately five feet tall.  It was three inches thick at the base and grew to four inches thick at the head.

“How did you get here?”
Morg asked as he looked around.  The way he asked the question was…odd.  Just a sliver more logic and the rage eased a little.

“What does it matter?  You are here now.  You won.  But…,” Kade started to say and then hesitated.  Something nagged at him, but it was hard to think.  He wanted desperately to destroy this man utterly and completely. 
No,
he told himself. 
Think
.  Something was odd about the way Morg was watching him.  “Why do you hesitate?” Kade asked, trying to buy time.

Kade felt his chest start to burn as the amulet heated up.  He looked down, but it wasn’t hanging around his neck as it should have been.  Something was not right.  He had to think.  He felt he was on the verge of understanding when Morg’s boot slammed into his gut, knocking the
wind out of him.  He doubled over, and Morg brought his knee into Kade’s face, splitting his lip, sending blood spraying across the ground.  Kade landed hard on his back.

“I find it difficult to believe that something as pathetic as you could kill my pets,” Morg said with contempt.

“You mean that thing you used to call Kroden?”  Kade said, emphasizing the past tense of the comment as he let out an antagonizing laugh.  Blood shot out as a cough took the place of his laugh.  That earned him another boot to the other side of his ribs.  He tried to speak but had to clear the copper tasting liquid from his mouth.  He spat and then continued.  “And, that cat thing was not much of a challenge, either,” Kade said in gasps as he waited for another blow that never came.  He reached out with his mind to find his dragon but there was nothing.  Rayden was nowhere to be found.  Or…was he?  Something…was there but it was not right.  The burning on his chest drew his attention again.  He looked down and still…nothing.

“I might let you live for just a little while longer if yo
u answer my question.  I might even let you join me.  Think of all the things we could do together,” Morg said nonchalantly as he bent down to look Kade in the eyes.  “How did you get here?” Morg asked as he traced the patterns in his staff with his finger as though the answer really did not matter.

“Why do you keep asking that?  Why don’t you just do what you came to do?  Or
, is there a reason you can’t?” Kade asked, taking a gamble as just a sliver more of his logical mind worked.

“Like I said, I might let you live if you just answer my questions,” Morg said as he del
ivered another sharp blow to Kade’s head.  His ears rang furiously and he was certain his left ear was already starting to swell.  His stomach lurched, and he felt the sand on the back of his head for just a moment.  The amulet burned his chest now.  He wearily reached up to lift it away from his skin, but his hands found nothing

“You…keep asking that as if…as if you don’t know.  You are trying to figure something out,” Kade said as he laughed through the pain.  “Why not just kill me
?” he asked and then stopped.  He could have sworn he heard a distant roar, a panicked roar.  Was Rayden trying to find him?  Kade reached out with his mind and could have sworn that his dragon should be answering but…there was a wall.

“You think this is a game!”
Morg screamed as he bent to within inches of Kade’s face, spittle flying from him.  “The pain is real and so will your death be if you keep this up,” he said as he put his right hand around Kade’s neck and started to squeeze.  “Now, where are we?” Morg roared as he looked around.  He was shaking with fury.  Kade felt his air being cut off.

“A days walk,” Kade rasped
, trying to buy time.  “A days walk from town.”

Morg let Kade fall to the ground and stood while laughing lightly.  After a moment, he leveled his malicious gaze at the Apprentice Chosen, making his skin crawl.  Morg sneered.

“And Zayle thought you were a challenge for me,” Morg said as he laughed in contempt.

The burning feeling on Kade’s chest was almost more than he could bear.  Glancing up,
he was sure he saw the evil Chosen shimmer slightly.  The burning in his chest drew his attention again.  He reached down, trying to find the source of the heat, but his hand came up empty once again.  Morg watched Kade’s actions with curiosity.  He narrowed his eyes and leaned closely to look at Kade’s chest.  He jumped back, and his eyes came wide open with understanding.

“It burns,” Morg said, feigning uncaring again.  “If it burns, then take it off,” Morg said as if talking to a simpleton.  “That Zayle sure is a clever one,” he added with genuine admiration.

“What are you doing?” Kade asked as he clawed at the spot.  The burning felt so intense he was sure his skin was blistering, but there was nothing to grab.  It was just bare skin.

“Well, why don’t you take off the amulet
?” Morg asked casually.

“You already have it,” Kade said as he looked down to find the amulet hanging around his neck.  Morg took a breath and waited.  Kade’s hand shot to the amulet, but just as he was about to rip it from his neck and throw it, another sliver of logi
c worked its way into his mind.  The burning was too intense for him to ignore, so he lifted it away from his skin.  Morg stood so still with his eyes on Kade, he could have passed for a statue.

No sooner had Kade lifted th
e amulet away from his skin when he would feel an unseen force push it back down.  The burning amulet started to glow slightly as heat radiated from it.  It was too intense.  Kade felt sweat start to bead on his forehead as he fought to control the pain.  His jaw was clenched tightly.  Another sliver of logic worked its way into his mind.  Something was very wrong here.  Morg wanted the amulet off, but why if he had already found him?

The amulet heated just a little
more.  Kade could not take the pain.  He put his strength into lifting the protective necklace and it slowly rose.  Far off in the distance, Kade heard a voice.  Was it Darcienna’s?  That caused him to pause as more things fell into place.  And then, he heard a violent roar that shook the ground, but the ground did not shake so why did he think he felt it? 

Kade
twisted and the counter pressure that had been pressing down on the amulet was gone instantly.  He let it dangle from his neck as he panted while on his hands and knees.  He looked at Morg and saw that the man was shaking with immense effort, but why?  What was he doing?  And again, there was another sliver of logic.  His anger faded and then things clicked into place.  He slowly stood, and after spitting a good amount of blood, laughed.

             
“This is not real, is it?” Kade asked, taunting the evil Chosen.  “This is my dream, or a trance, or something other than the real world, isn’t it?”  He was very conscious of the amulet, but now he knew he needed to keep it around his neck.  “You are not really here.  That is why you keep asking where I am and how I got here,” Kade said, filled with confidence as he walked up to Morg, looking him in the eye.  The Master Chosen shook with rage as he glared back.  “You have no idea,” Kade said as he threw his head back and laughed in Morg’s face.  Kade knew he might regret it, but he just could not help himself.  He had figured out Morg’s game, and he wanted him to feel the sting of being defeated in this battle of wits.  The pain might feel real, but he won this round.

             
“Oh, I can still make you suffer,” Morg said as he snarled and swung the staff.  The pain was excruciating.  The last thing Kade saw was the twisted smile on Morg’s face that was mixed with rage and hate.  The man was beaten this round but not before he inflicted his fair share of suffering.

             
Kade ground his teeth, trying to withstand the agony.  It racked his body for what seemed like forever but was closer to mere seconds.  It slowly faded to be replaced by the sound of Darcienna’s voice.  His vision returned, and with that, she came into focus.  She had tears streaming down her face.  Her eyes were blazing bright blue but rimmed in red.  He looked up at her weakly and gave a slight smile.  She hugged him fiercely and sobbed.

“Kade,” Darcienna cried as she held him tight
ly.  There was fear and terror in her voice.  He winced at the pain that should have been in his ribs.  But, there was none.  The more he awoke, the further the pain faded.  “Can you hear me?” she asked as she moved back only far enough to look him in the eyes.

             
“Yes,” Kade said as he took a deep breath and reached up, putting his arms around her.  He needed to feel her, to know she was there, to know this was the real world.  Her eyes started to quickly fade to their natural color.

             
The dragon shoved between them with his nose and huffed at Kade worriedly.  Rayden was not going to be put off a second longer.  The connection between him and the dragon slammed into place and everything was back to normal.  Deep concern flooded through the link.  Kade let go of Darcienna and patted Rayden on the muzzle to reassure him.  Darcienna wiped the sweat from his brow with her sleeve as she checked him over for injuries.

             
“What happened?” Darcienna asked through the tears as her sobs started to slow.

             
“I am not really sure,” Kade said as he sat up and looked around.  “I was lying here next to the fire, or I thought I was,” he said as he scratched his head, “when Morg appeared out of…,” Kade was saying when Darcienna cut him off.

             
“You saw him?” she asked in a rush.

             
“Yes.  He appeared out of nowhere and started to question me as to where we were.  He hit me several times, and it hurt.  It hurt badly.  It felt so real.  The pain was so intense,” Kade said as he ran his hand over his head to feel for lumps.  There weren’t any.  “I thought that Morg had taken you.”

             
“I thought you said that amulet would keep him from finding us.”

             
“It did.  He still has no idea where we are.  As a matter of fact, I think he was barely able to be in my dreams because of the amulet. I believe he was fighting its power,” Kade said as his hand went to his chest, expecting to find nothing.  There was a huge blister forming where the amulet hung.  He furrowed his brow as he ran his finger gently over the spot.  “He still does not know where we are.”