The First Kaiaru (42 page)

After a while she got control of her tears. “I’m sorry, Sobei. I…I just miss my home. It breaks my heart sometimes, knowing I’ll never get to see my parents again.”

“I’m sorry,” he replied, squeezing her tight. “I hope I’m worth it.”

Kurine kissed him on the nose. “You are more than worth it…my husband.” She ran a hand across his cheek. “Tell me a story. Tell me…tell me about your first adventure.”

“Again?” he asked. “You’ve heard the whole thing at least three times.”

“Yes, but I’ve never heard it without Lu Bei's embellishments.”

“He tells it much better.”

“I want to hear your version. Leave nothing out.”

When he finished an hour later, she said, “Now tell me again where we might settle down when we get to your Okoro, after you’ve saved your family. Tell me, Sobei, how wonderful and peaceful our lives will be then.”

T
uresobei woke at dawn and had breakfast with all his companions, except Awasa who was already meditating expectantly. He was so nervous that he hardly heard anything the others said. When he was finished, he stood up. Then Kurine gave him a kiss, and so did Iniru.

Kurine squeezed his hand. “Do do your best, Sobei. I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

Then, with his guts trembling, Turesobei marched to the Workshop. Awaiting him was a blue-eyed Blood King so eager and assured of success that he was practically bouncing on his heels like a small child. He caught sight of Turesobei and smiled. Turesobei breathed a sigh of relief. The Blood King wasn’t suspicious, and if Hannya had any idea what was about to happen, she didn’t show it. Her expression was almost one of disinterest.

Within the Inner Sanctum, Turesobei and Hannya each knelt in one of three white circles that formed a triangle around the heart stone pair for the Nexus. Since it didn’t matter who was in which circle, Turesobei chose the one closest to the exit. He placed Lu Bei in diary form right behind him. The Blood King attached the circlets and their rune-carved chains to Turesobei, Hannya, and himself. Then he knelt in the last available circle.

“Connect to the stones, apprentice, and then Hannya and I will link ourselves to you.”

Turesobei glanced at the ring of heart stone pairs that surrounded them along the outer edge of the room, and said a quick, silent prayer—directed not to his ancestors nor any deity but to the wide, mysterious universe itself. Then he breathed deep and opened his connection to all the heart stones. Swiftly, he projected his consciousness into the active heart stones of Autumn, Winter, Spring, and the Nexus.

Once again he stood on an icy plain facing the images of his father, Kemsu, Narbenu, and the Winter Child.

“
It is time
,” he told them.

“
We are fearless
,” they replied in unison. “
We are ready
.”

“
Then repeat these names after me,
” he said, reciting all of Gyo Roe Syrra’s names.

As they continued to chant the names, Turesobei mentally cast the
spell of unbinding
to help them remove any remaining claim the Blood King had on their cylinders. Lord Gyoroe could counter the spell and reclaim ownership of the stones, but if all went according to plan, he wouldn’t realize what they had done until it was too late.

“
Control of these heart stones now belongs to you, Noboro Torituro. Let's do this.
”

“
You have our allegiance, and our eternal gratitude, Chonda Turesobei.
”

He returned to his waking body to find the Blood King on his feet, flicking his yellow-eyed gaze around the room as he examined each of the heart stone pairs.

“This…this is all wrong.”

Using his connection, Turesobei immediately reversed the polarities of the reclaimed heart stones and spiked storm energy into them.

Eyes flared scarlet, Lord Gyoroe rounded on Turesobei and snarled, “What have you done?!”

Turesobei ripped the circlet off his head and tossed it aside. “I have learned the true nature of sacrifice and I have used it against you, Gyo Roe Syrra.”

The eyes shifted to gray as his brows crinkled in confusion, his true name having completely distracted him. “What—what did you just call me?”

While only Lord Gyoroe could open the door leading into the Inner Sanctum, anyone could leave freely. So Lu Bei seized that opportunity to stealthily zip toward the exit and slip outside. He would warn the others, in case Awasa hadn’t done so already. Then he would get Enashoma and bring her to the Throne Room. Awasa should have telepathically told Enashoma last night that Turesobei had a way of freeing her.

The change began suddenly, with a hum so deep it was barely audible. The glass dome around them vibrated, the floor quaked, and a shivering ache drilled through Turesobei’s teeth and bones. The hairs on his arms rose, then the loose hairs in his braid flared out.

A crackling, blood-orange lightning bolt fired off the active heart stone of the Autumn Realm, boomed right over Turesobei’s head, and struck the active stone of the Nexus. If he hadn’t remained kneeling, the blast would’ve killed him. The bolt didn’t disappear, but instead formed a continuous, crackling energy link between the two stone cylinders.

The Blood King shook his head, the enchantment of hearing his true name having worn off. Then he dived aside as a bolt shot off the Nexus heart stone and struck the active stone of the Spring Realm. More bolts fired suddenly, forming a continuous web of energy, linking not only the active stones Turesobei had communicated with but all of them.

With his eyes rapidly cycling through their colors, the Blood King scanned the heart stones in confusion. Then his eyes narrowed and settled into gray. “I know what it is you have done. A valiant effort, but I can reverse—”

With a sharp pop, cracks spread through the surface of the active Autumn heart stone.

“No!” the Blood King screamed.

A succession of snaps sounded as fractures spread through all the active heart stones. The damage was considerable but not yet enough to destroy the system. Gyoroe chanted a spell to counter the process. Turesobei hesitated. Stopping the Blood King was more important than escaping safely. Wishing he could’ve brought Sumada in with him without raising suspicion, he drew a strip for the
spell of heaven’s wrath
. But before he spoke more than three syllables, Hannya shoved him away.

“Go!” she whispered.

Turesobei halted his spell, keeping the strip ready, and backed away. He carefully avoided the crackling energy streams. Hannya dashed in and tackled the Blood King, knocking him into the heart stone pair for the Nexus. Hannya cried out as streams of energy blasted them both. When the cylinders struck the floor beneath them, the active stone in the pair shattered, despite all the physical protections the Blood King had placed upon it.

Turesobei could never have explained how, but he sensed the souls within the stone moving on toward the afterlife.

The crackling energy streams ceased, as did the hum, but it was replaced by a high-pitched whine.

Unharmed, Gyoroe threw Hannya off him and drew a bronze spell strip. While Hannya stood up, Turesobei sprinted toward the door. If Gyoroe directed the spell at him, he wouldn’t make it.

The whine reached eardrum-splitting levels, then abruptly ceased. A moment later, a series of booms rocked the Inner Sanctum as all the other active heart stones exploded.

The shockwaves knocked Turesobei flat. Fragments ricocheted around the room, and a thick cloud of dust billowed out.

A
s Turesobei picked himself up, he spotted a hand-sized cylinder fragment nearby, a piece of the active heart stone of the Autumn Realm. The souls, and thus the power, of the heart stones was departing, but if he escaped with a fragment, then he could be certain the Blood King couldn’t access any residual kenja by patching all the stones back together.

He dived for the fragment, and a spear of flames hurtled through the spot where his chest had been. He grabbed the stone and rolled to his feet across from the Blood King, whose face was locked into a maniacal snarl.

Turesobei swallowed. This was it. He didn’t stand a chance of dodging another attack. The Blood King was too fast. Either the blast would kill him mercifully or incapacitate him so that he could endure centuries of torture.

But suddenly, Hannya sprang out from under a pile of rubble, expanding into her Earth Dragon form, and attacked the Blood King.

“Go!” she howled.

Turesobei jammed the piece of the Autumn heart stone into a spell pouch, shoved the door open, and sprinted out into the Workshop. He ran as fast as he could, knowing Hannya would only last a few moments at best against the Blood King. His plans might be ruined, but his personal power would remain undiminished.

He raced up the stairs leading out of the Workshop. Each step seemed to take forever, and he could feel their chances of escape slipping away with each moment that passed. He darted into the Throne Room.

Enashoma, guarded bravely by Lu Bei, awaited him on the dais. Terror filled her eyes as she slipped her robe down past her waist and turned her back to him. Turesobei didn’t miss a beat. He had mentally rehearsed this a thousand times over the last week. With one palm on the back of her neck and the other at the base of her spine, he cast the spell Nalsyrra had taught him and spoke the name Gyo Roe Syrra.

The silvery collar and the attached chain melted out from Enashoma’s neck and back and turned solid again. The collar unlocked. With a sigh of relief, Turesobei pulled it free and tossed it aside.

Enashoma spun around, pulling her robe back onto her shoulders, then placed a hand on the jade throne. “Defend us.”

“What was that about?” Turesobei asked.

“You’ll see.”

They ran down the steps and across the room. Savage roars and tremendous spell blasts echoed out of the Workshop. It sounded like a full-fledged battle being waged behind them. But when they reached the hallway, an eerie silence fell.

As they ran out into the courtyard, Enashoma asked, “Is he coming?”

Her answer was a
whoosh
of air as the Blood King teleported into the space right behind them.

Turesobei’s companions—armed, armored, and packed for travel—were ready to go. Motekeru, Rig, Ohma, Zaiporo, and Iniru had already raced up the steps to the gate platform. For some reason, however, Awasa and Kurine lingered on the ground near the steps. It would be like Kurine to wait on him, even if it wasn’t part of the plan. Not that it mattered with the Blood King here and active. Turesobei would never have time to open one of the gates. It was over.

He spun to face the Blood King and his murderous eyes.

“Go, Shoma!” Turesobei yelled as he backed steadily away.

Sneering, the Blood King spoke a word…then frowned as nothing happened.

“I disarmed the death chain you placed on her, Gyo Roe Syrra.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” he asked.

“Because it’s your true name.” He flicked his gaze back and saw Enashoma race safely past Kurine and Awasa and up to the platform. “And because it distracts you and makes you mad.”

The Blood King flicked his hand, and a wave of concussive force knocked Turesobei flat—his head spinning, his throat bruised.

“You cannot make me any more angry than I already am,” he seethed, one eye shifting between scarlet and yellow while the other turned gray. “And you will feel the brunt of that anger played out upon your every nerve for a hundred thousand years. Yet it will be nothing compared to what I will do to those you love.”

Suddenly, Kurine leapt over Turesobei’s prone body to stand, fists clenched, between him and the Blood King. What was she doing?! Raising his spell strip, Turesobei sat up and tried to yell—to tell her to run away—but his voice was no more than an indecipherable whisper.

“You will
not
harm
my love!
” With her feet firmly planted, she pointed a finger at the Blood King. “Not now! Not ever!”

The Blood King laughed mockingly, as he stalked forward. “You are damned, Chonda Turesobei, if this foolish girl is your savior.”

And he laughed even harder when Kurine tossed eight pebbles out onto the ground, each one gray with a different spiral color pattern.

“Truly damned, for she has lost her mind.”

“Kurine?” Turesobei croaked hoarsely, his voice starting to return.

She turned her head. Her emerald eyes, filled with tears, looked deeply into his. But it was not his name she spoke.

“Awasa,” Kurine whispered faintly.

As Turesobei struggled to his feet, a dark form flashed past him. He could only stare dumbfounded as Awasa leapt in and plunged Fangthorn into Kurine’s back.

The black sword tore all the way through and pierced her heart.