The First Kaiaru (30 page)

Awasa gave him a brief kiss on his smooth, bronze cheek. “You look as good as new.”

“Almost,” Motekeru replied with a hint of emotion in his voice.

Turesobei squatted beside Rig and Ohma and massaged their scruffs. “I don’t know how you did it, but you two saved the day. Thank you.”

As the Storm Dragon destroyed the last wounded guardian that had managed to reform before the destruction of the crystal, a massive tremor shook the earth. The remnants of Turesobei’s last stone wall collapsed, and fissures snaked through the earth around them.

“We need to hurry,” Iniru said.

The lava pool sealed over with a shelf of rock, and on it stood the pedestal with the cylindrical heart stone. Turesobei recalled the Storm Dragon, and they took off running. The earth quaked violently beneath them, and giant fissures erupted, spewing lava and toxic fumes.

“It’s a trap!” Lu Bei shouted. “This whole place is going to blow!”

A ten-foot-wide fissure that stretched at least half a league in each direction cracked open ahead of them.

“We don’t have time to go around!” Iniru shouted. “We have to jump!”

“Easy for you to say!” Zaiporo replied.

“Don’t worry,” Turesobei said, already reaching into his spell pouch. “Just jump!”

He did a quick-casting of the
spell of prodigious leaping
and expanded it to cover all of them. The casting took more energy than he had expected. As he stumbled, Motekeru scooped him up and leapt across. They all made it over safely, then immediately had to make a second jump as another fissure opened before them.

As soon as they reached the heart stone, Turesobei struck the force field with magic, nearly passing out as he did so, while Iniru and Awasa hit it with their swords at the same time. The field collapsed. Turesobei rushed in, grabbed the cylinder, and drew the scroll for the teleportation spell.

“Wait, I’ve got to get my stone!” Kurine yelled.

Turesobei cursed. He couldn’t believe that even in this situation she was willing to die for a stupid pebble.

“We don’t have time for this crap!” Iniru shouted. “We’ve got to go!”

Turesobei didn’t wait. While he chanted the spell, Awasa and Lu Bei scoured the ground, trying to help Kurine search for her stone.

Lu Bei held up a pebble with a crimson spiral pattern. “Got it!”

Suddenly, the earth split wide open beneath them, and they plunged helplessly into a free fall. Deep below them flowed a river of molten rock belching geysers of poisonous fumes. The heat and toxic gasses would kill them long before they reached the fiery lava at the bottom. It was only thanks to the protective spells the Blood King had placed on them that they were still alive.

Turesobei had to teleport them
now
. There was no time to finish chanting the spell. Trying to imagine himself as Chonda Lu, he called on all the power that rushed into him from the cylinder and pictured the complete spell in his mind. He locked onto his free-falling companions as best as he could and activated the spell.

E
nashoma raced from the Workshop, through the Throne Room, and out into the hallway. She skidded to a stop in front of the door leading to the Canvas. She reached a hand out. Her fingertips stopped just short of the handle.

Over the last hour, she had summoned a simple fire-starting spark and a fire globe, conjured a small breeze, then deployed her kenja-sight for a few moments. It had taken three days to break through the walls in her mind and overcome her lack of confidence, but she'd finally cast her first spells.

She was so excited, and her first thought was to share it with Nāa. But she was being silly. He was a Kaiaru and magic was a commonplace thing to him. Besides, he had experienced it all—firsthand through her.

Her fingers continued to hover only an inch away from the door.

The only reason to see him face to face was if she was ready for more training. And she wasn’t ready to work on the pictograms now. Her brain was fried from twelve hours of spell work.

She sighed and wandered back to her room.

Having earned a few hours off from her studies with Lord Gyoroe, she had planned to take a nap. But she was too keyed up for that. So she decided on a long, hot bath. She hadn’t taken one in weeks. It made her self conscious enough just to dress, knowing Nāa was there with her. But the bath would help her relax, and to be honest, she probably smelled.

She filled the tub, then swiftly undressed and slipped into the steaming water. She tried not to think of him or feel the pulse of kenja in the kavaru on her forehead. But of course, that just made sure she thought about him…and then of her nakedness. Blushing, she removed the circlet and placed it on the edge of the tub.

She couldn’t feel the pulse anymore. But their minds were still connected. She would have to move farther away from the kavaru for the connection to end. But she couldn’t bear to do that.

She dipped her head under the water. She came up and ran her fingers through her black hair. It was long now, longer than it had ever been before. She grabbed the bottle of sandalwood oil.

Her eyes lingered on the circlet. She wanted to put it back on. She missed the familiar pulse already.

But she resisted, and finished bathing. Then she leaned back to soak in the warm water.

Again, her eyes strayed onto the circlet.

She decided: after her bath, she would go to the Canvas and work on pictograms. A foreign thought brushed against her consciousness. She sighed. Somehow Nāa knew the gist of what she was thinking. And without hearing his voice, she knew his response. She didn’t have to go to the Canvas to communicate with him.

After her bath and a small meal, Enashoma sat crosslegged on a cushion in her room. She adopted the necessary mudras and deepened her breathing.

You can do this. Just let go.

She opened her mind to the kavaru and stepped into a spiritual field of lavender, only this one had a stream running through it and a clearing in the center, where a giant maple drooped over a tiny gazebo containing a table with two bowls and a tea kettle.

Nāa walked out from behind the maple and smiled. “What a nice surprise.”

Enashoma blushed. “I wanted something more cozy than just a field of flowers.”

They knelt across from one another, and he poured her a bowl of tea. She chuckled suddenly.

“Something funny?” he asked.

“Having imaginary tea in an imaginary place,” she replied. “What’s the point?”

“What is the point of a field of lavender or actually seeing me at all? We could easily communicate mentally.”

“I wouldn’t like that at all. Because….” As the words died in her throat, she blushed more deeply.

He reached out and touched her hand. “I understand.”

“I find…” she took a deep breath “…I find myself attracted to you. And it’s hard to say this, but I feel like this attraction is clouding my judgment. It has to be wrong.”

“Our situation…our relationship…is unusual. Few have ever been bonded together in this way. But I do not see a problem.”

“You don’t?”

He shook his head. “Tell me what bothers you.”

“Well…you’re a man, but not just a man. You’re an ancient, immortal soul within a stone…and you’re inhabiting my body like a…like a parasite. On top of that, I’m descended from you.”

“As you said, I am ancient. Two thousand years separate us. You are more closely related to anyone within your clan or province than you are to me. And we do not have a physical relationship, not in the traditional sense, since we do inhabit only one body. Our souls, however…well, our souls do touch.”

She squeezed his hands and looked into his eyes. “Do you feel attracted to me?”

“I feel conflicted.”

“Why?”

“You remind me of my granddaughter.”

A maple leaf fell from a branch and drifted down into the lavender.

“Oh, I see.”

“I did not say that to dismiss you, Shoma. I loved my granddaughter very deeply. She reminded me of my beloved wife.”

“So…so that’s not bad, is it?”

“To see someone you loved dearly in someone else? That is the highest of compliments.”

“So, what now?” she asked. “Should…should I work on the pictograms?”

"Yes. I think that would be best.” He smiled tenderly. “Shoma, what we have is not wrong, but it is...difficult, for both of us. There are other, external circumstances which complicate the situation as well."

"Zaiporo. This is all so unfair to him."

"Perhaps. But none of this is your fault. I know how much you care for him, and we should not take any actions which might jeopardize that relationship, not until you are absolutely certain of what you want."

Enashoma nodded.

“However, there is also the Blood King to deal with."

“Have you figured out a way to break his binding on me?”

“I have. But it will likely kill you.”

“I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

“It is. I have also identified the focus for the portal that leads into the kavaru vault.”

“The throne?”

“Indeed. And I know how to gain control of it.”

“Without him noticing?”

“That will be the tricky part, yes. I believe that when he ghosts into the past he will be distracted enough so that we can take the throne over without his knowledge.”

“Okay, so once we can gain access to the kavaru vault, what do we do?”

“We steal the other version of Chonda Lu’s stone.”

“And that will help Turesobei stay himself in the future?”

“Possibly. And it might have additional uses. You saw Lu Bei’s reaction to it.”

“He wasn’t just surprised to see it. He had that devious look he gets.”

“That is why I am certain stealing it is worth the risk. Even if my idea fails, his may not.”

“Okay, but what about defeating the Blood King?” Enashoma asked. “Or escaping the Nexus?”

“We are depending on your brother to solve those problems. There is nothing you or I can do directly. But we can help him. After you control the throne, you can transform it into a mighty serpent. At your command, the serpent can attack the Blood King and bind him, temporarily, with his own power.”

“But it can’t defeat him, can it?”

Nāa shook his head. “It will buy us a few minutes, if we are fortunate.”

“Doesn’t sound like much.”

“We are going to need every advantage we can get. And once you take over the throne, making it into a serpent will not be difficult. Believe me, the confusion caused by seeing his own power turn on him will likely be worth as much as the actual attack. And provided you draw the pictograms as I instruct, the Blood King will not have any clue as to how or why it is happening. He will never sense beforehand that he has lost control.”

Enashoma reviewed the plan in her mind, trying to keep it all straight. “So we use the throne to get access to the kavaru vault and steal Chonda Lu’s stone.”

“And hide it away.”

“Then we have the throne lying in wait to trap the Blood King at the appropriate time.”

“Exactly.”

“It sounds incredibly dangerous.”

“Even if you are discovered, the Blood King will not permanently harm you,” Nāa said. “He needs you alive.”

“Easy for you to say. You haven’t experienced one of his torture sessions…yet.”

“I will be there with you, guiding and encouraging you, the whole time. We are, as you would say, in this together.”

Enashoma smiled. “That does make me feel better.”

“Are you ready to study the pictograms now?”

She nodded. "If I'm going to learn enough to pull this plan off, I'd better get to work."

N
ormally when the teleportation spell activated, Turesobei and his companions merely stood as they zipped along a sparkling tunnel through Wraithspace. Within seconds, they would appear in the new location. But this time, they tumbled through the teleportation tunnel, bouncing around like a handful of marbles thrown into a bamboo pipe. And what should have been a travel time of only a few seconds stretched out into minutes.

Each time Turesobei collided with the edge of the tunnel, it felt as if a tiny part of his soul had been stripped away. His companions screamed in pain and called out to him, but there was nothing he could do. Either he had set the target location for the spell correctly…or they could end up anywhere…fused within the earth…trapped within the Wraithspace…or maybe nowhere at all.

Finally, the tunnel ended, and they arrived at the correct location. Unfortunately, they were still bouncing around at high-speed. They tumbled out onto the ground. Dizzy and completely disoriented, Turesobei rolled to a bruising stop. Motekeru banged past him and slammed into the stone arch of the gate. Hopefully, Motekeru hadn’t damaged it. Turesobei heard grunts, bangs, and yelps as others crashed to a stop.

Iniru tumbled over him and flew past the gate. Turesobei tried to call out. If she went too far, she would fly into the nothingness beyond the realm’s boundary and be gone forever.

In her shadowy Earth Dragon form, Hannya sped after Iniru. With her claws, she caught Iniru’s arms and pulled her back. And just in time. The soles of Iniru’s shoes were gone, stripped away, but her feet were still there.

Turesobei needed to find Kurine, but as soon as he tried to sit up, a wave of nausea struck him, and he fell back down. As he rolled over to his side to check on her and the others, a blinding pain struck him in the forehead. He imagined this was what it would feel like to have an iron spike hammered into his head.

The dizziness was even worse now. He couldn’t see, and he could hardly think. Holding onto the heart stone, he curled into a fetal position…then vomited.

Two of his companions were crying, while another shouted something. One of them groaned as if in terrible agony—then screamed as a sickening thunk like metal cutting through flesh sounded out. The screams transformed into a pitiful whimper.

Lu Bei spoke soothing words to someone, while Hannya chanted to open the gate. He could hear the words the others were saying, but he couldn’t understand them. It all sounded like gibberish.

“Kurine….” Turesobei managed to mutter before coughing up acidic bile.

The gate’s energies washed over him as it opened. Couldn’t they wait? Traveling through the gate was only going to make the dizziness worse, and he already felt so bad he wanted to die. Someone spoke to him, but he couldn't recognize their voice, much less understand their words.

While he continued to clutch the heart stone to his chest, someone…Motekeru maybe…lifted him.

In moments, he was on the other side, his head splitting and spinning even worse than before.

Enashoma screamed.

Oh gods, something terrible
had
happened.

He tried to sit up. He knew Iniru was okay, but he hadn't been able to check on Kurine yet. He tried to call out to her. But before he could manage to do anything, a sleep spell drifted across him.