The First Kaiaru (16 page)

T
he others only saw two bloody holes suddenly erupt on Zaiporo’s chest before he dropped down dead. Iniru cried out and started toward him, but Motekeru stopped her.

“Everyone, stay back!” Turesobei shouted. “There are invisible warriors closing in. Storm Dragon, protect us!”

Before the enemy could reach them, the Storm Dragon started circling Turesobei and his companions, blasting the invisible warriors with sparks, wind, and hail. Whether it was working, Turesobei couldn’t tell. It was impossible to see through the storm surrounding them.

He needed to find a way to make these warriors visible to everyone, and quickly, because he was certain that soon there would be a big guardian for the Storm Dragon to deal with.

And they had to win this one
fast
. The longer it took to return to the Nexus, the greater the risk that the Blood King wouldn't be able to bring Zaiporo back to life.

If necessary, Turesobei wouldn’t hesitate to teleport everyone away without finishing the mission. In fact, that was probably the best thing to do. They could come back prepared to deal with the invisible warriors. Given their energy patterns, he suspected they were naturally invisible, which meant countering the effect was going to be incredibly difficult.

“We don’t have many options here. Storm Dragon, keep circling us as we advance toward Zaiporo. If we can reach him, we can get out of here.”

“Sobei, I’ll be able to see the invisible guardians by using the
mudra of revelation
,” Awasa said as they eased forward.

“And I can detect them well enough,” Motekeru said, “now that I know they exist. I don't need to see something to kill it.”

Turesobei nodded. “In that case…Kurine and Iniru, I'm going to cast a spell that will grant you kenja-sight. It's going to be overwhelming at first. The world around you will seem to be a mass of swirling colors. Just find the man-shaped patterns and focus on them. Block out everything else.”

Based on how slowly they were advancing toward Zaiporo, Turesobei guessed the guardians were powerful and that the Storm Dragon was having trouble, alarming as it seemed, pushing them back. She fired off several powerful blasts, and he had a feeling, a very bad feeling, that those blasts hadn’t killed any of the warriors.

Turesobei cast the
spell of granting kenja-sight
. It seemed like a small thing, but it was a demanding spell, and he had never thought to make a strip for it.

“Whoa,” Iniru said, stumbling. “I think…I might be sick.”

“You’ll get used to it in a few moments,” he said.

Kurine fell to her knees and vomited.

“So what’s the plan?” Awasa asked.

“Once we get close enough, the Storm Dragon will attack the warriors full-on, while we rush to Zaiporo,” Turesobei said. “Then, assuming we can all be safe for long enough, I will recall the Storm Dragon and cast the teleport spell.”

For the moment, though, they had stopped moving forward, because Kurine was still bent over, throwing up.

“We need to get moving again,” Motekeru said.

“Everyone ready?” Turesobei asked

Kurine stood and wiped her mouth off. Her eyes were milky white. “Give me just a few more seconds. You've been using kenja-sight all your life. I don't think you have any idea how overwhelming it is.”

Iniru nodded along with her. “I can hardly stand.”

Turesobei counted to thirty, and then said, “We can't wait any longer. Let's go.”

Awasa helped Kurine up, and they all moved forward again, if slowly. Just when Turesobei was about to tell the Storm Dragon to stop circling and attack, a blue-white energy blast struck her.

The dragon tumbled backward, wailing in agony. Pain erupted in Turesobei’s chest, and on his face it felt as if someone had stabbed a knife into the
Mark of the Storm Dragon
.

He collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.

“Wizard!” Motekeru shouted.

A willowy figure in robes, ghostly pale and barely visible against the backdrop of steam clouds, stood just beyond the twelve invisible warriors. The wizard had a spell strip in his fingers. The spell strip crumbled away, but the wizard instantly drew another out of thin air. Based on the pale blue kavaru he saw on the wizard’s throat, Turesobei feared this was a simulacrum of Lord Bokaga himself. It would not be as powerful as that great Kaiaru, but it was probably equal to any average Kaiaru wizard and Turesobei's match.

Unfortunately, Zaiporo’s lifeless body lay just beyond the wizard. They were going to have to go through the twelve invisible warriors, all of whom remained unharmed, and the wizard in order to get to their friend.

As Turesobei’s companions engaged the warriors, the Storm Dragon blasted lightning at the simulacrum, but the wizard held up his spell strip, and all the blast went into it. The wizard then used that strip to fire a blast back, but the Storm Dragon managed to dodge that one. The strip crumbled, and another immediately took its place.

His friends were outnumbered more than two to one, and even with Motekeru, their odds of winning looked slim. After a brief, violent exchange, Motekeru had killed one of the invisible warriors by ripping out its heart.

The others were having a tough time, though, and just barely holding their ground. Only Iniru had managed to injure one, while Kurine had cracked another’s breastplate.

Awasa had sustained a nasty cut on her left knee. It was harder to fight with the sword in one hand while holding a complicated mudra with the other.

The hounds were completely unable to injure the warriors. All they could do was run interference, which was what Lu Bei was doing.

As soon as the wizard held up a spell strip to absorb another blast from the Storm Dragon, Turesobei cast a fire-blast spell, figuring at least one of the shots would hit. The wizard’s spell strip absorbed both blasts, but instead of the strip merely crumbling in his fingers as before, it exploded. The shockwave knocked the wizard stumbling backward.

As he saw Lu Bei streaking up into the sky, in the way he always did before employing a dive bomb maneuver from high above, Turesobei had an idea.

“Iniru!” Turesobei called. As she moved into a defensive posture, he rushed up and said, as quietly as possible, knowing her sensitive ears would pick up his words over the fighting, “I need you to attack the wizard.” He enchanted her with the
spell of prodigious leaping.
“Get ready to leap.”

Horns sparking and claws extended, the Storm Dragon zoomed toward the dazed wizard. But before she could hit him, the wizard formed mudras with both hands. A shimmering force field appeared suddenly, and the Storm Dragon slammed into it with a thundering boom. She bounced off the force field and crashed into a hot spring.

The wizard dropped his mudras, thereby lowering his force field, and drew another spell strip. He never saw what was coming for him. Blasting sparks, Storm Dragon Lu Bei crashed onto the simulacrum's back and knocked him down.

Turesobei darted in with his sword, taking on Iniru’s current invisible opponent. “Now!”

Iniru sprang up into the air.

Snarling, Lu Bei viciously raked his claws into the wizard's back. Bits of ghostly cloth and blood flew through the air. But Lu Bei didn’t have a chance to do more serious damage. The incredibly strong wizard rolled over and hurled him aside.

Just as the wizard stood, Iniru landed and plunged Sumada into his chest. With a burst of steam, the wizard disappeared.

Iniru had exposed her back to an invisible warrior who was charging toward her. Turesobei shouted a warning, but she wasn’t going to be able to turn around in time. His breath caught. If she died, the Blood King couldn’t bring her back.

But just before the warrior struck her, the Storm Dragon burst out of the hot spring and obliterated it with a lightning bolt.

Eight invisible warriors still remained, but with the Storm Dragon’s help, they had no trouble taking them out. Apparently, the wizard had been protecting them from the dragon all along.

“Is that it, Sobei?” Awasa asked, wiping blood from her cheek where a sword had nicked her.

He glanced around. “If there's a source generating more, I don’t see it anywhere.”

The pedestal and the cylinder reappeared.

Iniru rushed over to Zaiporo. In a small voice, she said, “He's dead.”

Clenching a hand over a wound on her shoulder, Kurine scooped up a pebble with a white spiral pattern and said, “Get the cylinder, and let’s go!”

“There's something wrong here,” Turesobei said as he examined the pedestal. “That was too easy, and the trick was not
that
clever.”

“Maybe some of the Shogakami aren't as strong as the others,” Kurine said.

“Perhaps, but Bokaga is known for being one of the most powerful.”

He stepped up near the pedestal. Again, there was no force field protecting it. Using his kenja-sight, he could tell something was wrong. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

“Everyone gather close. Be ready for…be ready for anything.”

Motekeru brought over Zaiporo and set him down nearby.

Turesobei reached out. His hand passed through the cylinder, then it disappeared again.

“Trouble,” Awasa said.

Turesobei spun around. “Oh, crap.”

The twelve invisible warriors and the simulacrum wizard had reappeared. He ordered the Storm Dragon to shield them.

“I guess I should’ve recalled the Storm Dragon, so that I could teleport us out of here.”

“You think?” Iniru asked.

“Let’s go,” Awasa said.

“Not just yet,” Turesobei replied.

Kurine grabbed his arm. “Zaiporo needs to get back!”

“I know that! But I don’t want to go back ignorant. I want to know what we’re dealing with so we’re prepared next time.”

Turesobei knelt and took a closer look at the spot where the pedestal had been. “The fake image of the pedestal is a trap,
and
it's the generator for the guardians.”

“So how do we defeat this?” Iniru asked.

He studied it closely with his kenja-sight. “The problem…the problem is the illusion is the trigger to regenerate the guardians, and the generator is the force field itself, but the real thing didn't appear because…because we didn't actually defeat
all
the guardians, which is what you have to do with this one.”

“So there’s another guardian out there?” Iniru asked.

“If so, why didn't it attack us?” Awasa asked.

“It doesn't have to,” Motekeru responded. “It could be hiding from us.”

“Why would it do that?” Kurine asked.

“So we can’t win,” Turesobei said with a grimace. “Bokaga could be using that as a trick to counter someone who knows how the guardian system works and is powerful enough to defeat the guardians and destroy the force field.”

“Lady Hannya did warn us that he was tricky,” Awasa said.

Kurine tugged at his sleeve. “We should retreat now.”

“The longer we wait, the greater the risk of not being able to bring Zaiporo back,” Iniru said urgently.

“And maybe Lady Hannya or the Blood King will have some idea about how to defeat this,” Awasa added.

“Just give me a few more moments to analyze the situation,” Turesobei said. “You guys think of a plan that will keep the guardians away long enough, without help from the Storm Dragon, for me to cast the teleportation spell.”

Turesobei focused on the energy of the Cloud Realm heart stone, which he now knew from having studied its mate in the Inner Sanctum. Then he cast the
spell of locating that which is hidden,
attuning the spell to an energy signature all the force fields and guardians had so far possessed.

The spell immediately detected the twelve warriors and the simulacrum wizard…then it picked up something else. It was faint, but he had a bead on it.

“There's another guardian flying away from us and fast, heading due north. Storm Dragon, on my mark, fly toward the wizard to distract him, then head north and find that guardian.” Turesobei placed onto Motekeru the
spell of prodigious leaping
. “Motekeru, you are going to leap on the wizard like Iniru did before.”

“Shouldn’t we leave now?” Kurine urged.

Turesobei shook his head and prepared a weak fire-blast spell. He only needed it for a distraction. “Go now!”

The Storm Dragon flew toward the wizard, blasting it with lightning. The wizard reflected the blast, which clipped the Storm Dragon on the tail, causing her to roll wildly. But she righted herself and sped off toward the north.

The wizard barely got a spell strip out in time to absorb Turesobei’s fire blast, which he had unleashed just as the wizard was reflecting the Storm Dragon’s lightning bolt. Motekeru’s leap coincided with Turesobei’s attack. Motekeru fell on top of the wizard and ripped through him with his claws. Again, the wizard turned into a puff of steam and disappeared.

Then they fought the twelve invisible guardians. Turesobei used his sword and an array of minor spells. He didn't want to use any difficult ones, because he might have to risk complete kenja depletion, and thus death, to teleport them back so they could save Zaiporo.

After a desperate battle that left them all with new cuts, scrapes, and bruises, they defeated the invisible warriors. A minute later, a flash appeared on the horizon, followed a few seconds later by a deep boom.

The cylinder and the pedestal reappeared. Turesobei recalled the Storm Dragon. “Let's try this one more time.”

He reached his hand out—and it struck a force field. “It's the real thing this time. Let's take it down and get out of here.”