The Druid's Spear (Ascent of the Gem Bearers Book 1) (18 page)

Rin fought against the tiny nudge she recognized even in her sleep. Tambo wanted to awaken her, but she wanted to sleep just a little longer.

The nudge came again, more forceful this time, more intrusive. Lazily, she slapped away his hand and curled into a fetal position under the warm animal hides.

Rin. Invader. Descendant. Trouble.

Tambo’s voice was filled with alarm, but the urgency had a hard time making its way past the comfort of sleep.

Rin!

She sat up straight and a bone popped along her spine. Glaring at Tambo, Rin rubbed her back. “What?”

Those brown eyes stared at her with animal worry.
Descendant. Trouble. Invader.

A cold shaft rammed down her back. “Ken?” Rin leapt from her bed and reached for her clothes, a frown creasing her brow. It was disastrous they lost the blood gem to Callen’s mistake to burn the pants Ken had been wearing. With Callen having disappeared, and search parties still combing through the deeper recesses of the cave, an intruder about them proved the theory someone had taken him.

Dressed, she raced out her chamber with Tambo lumbering behind her, the heavy falls of his hands and feet pounding and echoing eerily through the halls. No one wanted to think it was possible, but somehow an intruder had slipped into the
juusha.
How had they gotten through the security? There was only one way into the cave, and that was from the outside.

Hurry, Rin,
Tambo’s voice shouted. She cast aside her thoughts and focused on getting to the Descendant, running down the halls. At the mouth of the cave the guards were gone and alarm settled in the pit of her stomach.

“Tambo, go wake Alderic and then protect the Elder with your life.”

The gorilla turned and loped back down the corridors. Rin drew in a breath. Obviously Ken had gone outside. Without another thought, she turned and went down the side of the mountain, the trail leading to a ledge overlooking the forest below. That’s where Ken would be.

Rounding the large tree marking the end of the trail to the ledge, she saw two figures. Her heart stopped at the sight of a real, live, in-the-flesh Druman. Her breath lodged in her throat, the world around her receding like a faded background. A scaly hand reached for Ken, who was standing there with preoccupied expression on his face. Was it Ludovicus?

Try as she might, for a few seconds, her feet refused to move. Sweat broke out over her body. There was no way she could defeat him. Rin’s stomach churned. She was a child, a child compared to the powerful Ludovicus. He had killed Rhychard although that dragon had been a king. How much effort would he waste on an insignificant such as herself? Would he even blink before destroying her?

“No one is more suited to bring about Ludovicus’ end than you, Uchida—
chan
.”
The Elder’s words rang in her ears as if he was standing next to her. Rin swallowed.
Senpai
trusted her to do this more than his son. Tambo believed in her strength. The
juusha
looked to her as leader.

The chill of fright eased away from her heart, and her fist clenched with resolve. If they believed in her, then even if she died, their faith would not be in vain.

“Get the hell away from him!” She ran until she stood face to face with the creature in front of Ken. It was not Ludovicus, but a female. Rin had never seen a first generation Druman female, except for what the Elder had told her.

“You’re intruding where you’re not wanted.” a smooth rasp threatened.

“Ken!” Rin called, with a lightning glance behind her. From the blank stare she could tell he’d been hypnotized.

“Uchida—
sensei
?” Lucid enough to recognize a familiar face, though.

“Ken, come out of it,” she called behind her, eyes fixed on the Druman.

“I said you are not wanted here!” the female shouted, her voice echoing across the forest. The birds flew away in a flurry from their perches in the tress. “You have this only opportunity to leave.”

Rin’s temple pulsed with resolve. “Make me.”

A crack appeared underneath her feet. Fissures radiated from it, and then the ground crumbled away. She lost her balance but jumped back and into Ken. They fell back on the ground, limbs tangled into one another.

“Ken, snap out of it!” she screeched, slapping him with the back of her hand.

“Ow!” he wailed, holding his face. “What was that for?”

Lucidity had returned to his eyes. A massive weight lifted off her back. “Ken, get up, we have to get out of here.” She jumped up, yanking him with her.

“What is it with you? Why are you being so—Kaluwa!”

The shock in his voice had her facing back to their adversary although Rin scowled. “How do you know her?”

Wariness etched the lines of his face has he took a defensive stances next to her. “I don’t. We were introduced just moments ago.”

Kaluwa had ripped off the cloak and stood before them, a tall, massive form of power and fury. The bony plates had enlarged, the tips sharp and gleaming needle-like in the sunlight. She rose into the air and the purple eyes glowed. Extending her arms across Ken, Rin pushed him back. There wasn’t much of the ledge left since the ground had fallen away. Very little room to fight.

Rin cursed silently.

Another crack appeared on the ground. It crawled like a worm to them, breaking away the earth as it came closer. Rin’s jaw hardened. She hadn’t want to do this, but the Elder once said a time would come when all secrets would be on display.

Today was that day.

Fragments of a blood gem embedded in her leather wrists bracelets grew brighter, their bluish glow enveloping them in a covering of light. Blue colored her vision.

“Uchida—
sensei
?” Ken’s voice was hoarse with wonder.

Rin ignored him and focused on the air currents flowing around them. Gathering with her will, they streamed toward them, the force of the wind growing stronger. The crack was almost to them. She had not utilized the power of the blood gem in some time. Ken and she were flush against the wall of the mountain, seeing the ground before them falling away into the forest below.

Come on,
she thought, and bluish aura grew stronger. Seconds later, the air currents had gathered in force and strength. Rin heaved a sigh of relief as she rose into the air, with Ken clutching wildly at her. The earth had fallen a mere second after they rose into the air. Nothing but a gap lay where the trail ended and then picked up again along the mountain.

“Uchida—
sensei
, what—how—”

“I knew you were not human,” Kaluwa shouted. “I could smell your father on you.”

Ken’s mouth dropping, Rin shrugged off the impact of those words as she and the Druman circled each other in the air. “Ken, join me.”

“You’re not human either.” The surprise was almost comical. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Now is not the time!” Rin shouted.

Rocks the size of boars lifted into the air. Using the motions of her hand, Kaluwa threw them. They crashed into the blue shield of the blood gem. Even so, Rin ducked as the hard surface of the stones came mere centimeters from her face. They shattered on impact. The Descendant cried out beside her.

Another rock came, bigger than the last, and flung itself into her shield. It also shattered, but the size of it was more than her shield could take. Fragments pierced through and sent minute cuts along their exposed arms and faces.

“She’s throwing boulders at us!”

“Ken, I need you to join me,” Rin whispered harshly, drawing in breath as another boulder rose into the air, this one much larger than the other two. It was so big it would crush them both.

“Join you?”

“You must use your power and help me!”

“I can’t. I thought the blood gem was the source of any power I had.”

“It is, but you are Rhychard’s Descendant and of a royal line. It is also ingrained within you.”

“Uchida—
sensei
—”

“Enough talking! When I say, focus!”

“I don’t know how!” he yelled.

“Then we are going to die!” Rin knew that some lessons were best taught by fire.

The rock came hurtling toward them. She used the air around her and funneled it into a tornado. She sent it forward.

“Now, Ken!”

She saw the confused look on his face, but noticed the electricity sparked around him. Then it shot out to her tornado and merged with it. Lightning arced out and crushed the massive boulder. The wind of her tornado sent the fragments out of their way.

Rin chanced a look at Ken and saw his face slack with surprise and fear. Would that be enough to defeat the Druman?

A moment later, something struck them from the side. Rin wrenched her head to the side and saw it was a tree. Kaluwa had used their electric tornado to her advantage.

Rin cursed again. She should have seen it coming.

The tree drew back, its branches, long, heavy and thick. Dirt fell from its uprooted bottom. Their shield had dimmed. Before she could even try to focus again, the tree crashed into their shield and it dissipated. They started to fall, entangled in the tree. Wind rushed upward while random twigs and branches imprisoned them. Rin tried to use the wind somehow but couldn’t focus. Her teeth gritted. She wasn’t able to turn around, but perhaps that was best as she didn’t want to see the canopy of greenery rushing to her.

“Uchida—
sensei
, hold on!”

Electricity sparked around them. She couldn’t see Ken, but the electricity circled the tree like coils of rope. One coil landed on the branch against her cheek. It sparked against her flesh. The pain bit at her and she cried out. It was like being stung over and over again in the same place by bees. She closed her eyes but she could feel the stings of it against her lids. She had to keep them closed. The scent of burnt flesh touched her nose.

A harsh bellow from Ken, and she heard a loud snap. The weight of the tree lifted off her. Eyes flying open, she saw the tree had been broken apart.

“Uchida—
sensei
, now!”

With the last ounce of her strength, she summoned the winds to her command. Something scratched against the back of her shoulder, but the winds lifted them back into the air. They’d come close to being impaled by the trees.

Wrapped in air, they flew. Another tree came at them but Rin dodged it. Ken moaned in agony, but she couldn’t tend to his needs. She had to be back to the cave. Moments later, having dodged two more trees, they collapsed at the entrance. Rin was exhausted but she stood up, pain lancing up and down her body. Ken lay sprawled on the ground. She thought he’d passed out but then he lumbered to his feet, the words “Keep moving” escaping from his mouth.

Kaluwa had dropped down before them, her purple eyes glowing. “I will have Rhychard’s son.”

Rin got in front of Ken. He attempted to push her out the way, but it was futile. He was weak from his exertions. “Over my dead body.”

“You cannot defeat me.”

Rin cracked her neck. “Try me.”

For some reason the answer seemed to enrage Kaluwa. The Druman roared, the bony plates shivering from the force of her rage. “So be it!”

“Uchida-san
! Wait!”

Rin turned around stiffly to see Callen running toward them. He appeared haggard and thin, but it was definitely him.

“Callen!” she exclaimed but then her eyes narrowed as he ran in front of the Druman. “What are you doing?”

“Please don’t hurt her,” the young man heaved. He dropped to his knees before her, hand on the ground. “She saved my life.”

Ken could not take his eyes off Kaluwa.

There was something about her that was irresistible, magnetic. It was a calling from her to him that refused to let go. Bandages, ointments, and herb mixtures slathered his body from their fight, but they seemed insignificant.

If she had not come for his allegiance, he would have never discovered the next staging of his ability.

“So Kaluwa nursed your injuries?” The question made Ken return back to the interrogation.

“
Hai
,
Senpai
. I would not be alive if it wasn’t for her.”

“Well, pebble, at least you are alive and well,” Alderic sneered, folding his massive arms. Callen’s face hardened in a tight mask of cold anger.

“Be silent, Alderic! No mockery when one of our own has returned safe and sound,” the Elder rebuked his son in a rare display of discipline. He turned his attention back to Callen. “Did you by any chance take the blood gem?”

“The blood gem? What do you mean,
senpai
?” The boy looked confused and slightly fearful.

“Yes, what you are talking about?” Kaluwa echoed, her eyes narrowing.

“When you burned Kenzo—
sama’s
garments, did you perhaps take the blood gem from his clothes?”

Callen shook his head. “
Iie, senpai.
I don’t know what you mean.”

“Then it was burned after all.” The elder sighed and took with him every ounce of hope anyone among the
juusha
had. Ken had held onto to a minute shard of optimism that somehow Callen had taken the blood gem.

“Burned?” Callen blinked owlishly. “Forgive me, but what are you talking about?”

“The blood gem was among Kenzo—
sama’s
garments when you burned them. Therefore it has been destroyed.”

Silence filled the small cavity of the chamber except for the crackling of the fire. “You think I—I—destroyed Rhychard’s blood gem?”

“Do not worry about this matter,” the Elder said in a tone meant to placate the man.

Callen gave a rather delirious sort of laugh tinged with a note of hysteria. “I—I—destroyed the blood gem?”

In a flurry of fabric, Callen rose to his knees and fell on his face. “Forgive me,
Senpai
. I didn’t know. How could I have done such a horrible thing?” He moaned liked a child.

“We don’t expect much from a pebble,” Alderic commented.

“Silence, Alderic,” the Elder rebuked. “Can’t you see he is in pain? The blood gem may be destroyed, but that also means Ludovicus cannot have it either.”

Ken’s eyes moved of their own accord to clash with the hypnotic gaze of Kaluwa.

Join me, Rhychard’s son.

He stiffened at the intrusion of his mind, but he didn’t alert anyone to it.

“We are glad Callen has been returned to us safely.
Domo arigato.
“

Kaluwa turned from him and gave the Elder a bow of her head in acknowledgment.

“That, however, does not explain the attack on Kenzo—
sama
and myself.” Uchida—
sensei
stepped forward from the shadows surrounding the fire. The right side of her face was bandaged, but he’d seen the damage made from the electricity he’d wielded through their attack. Her flesh had been charred and scorched by it, but Uchida—
sensei
wore her bruises well.

“No, it doesn’t, does it?” Kaluwa answered.

“Why did you attack us?” Uchida—
sensei
folded her arms and stared hard at the Druman. The animosity arcing between the two could be felt. Was it simply the wariness of two beings who had fought being told they were allies? Or was it the age-old clash of powerful females?

“Perhaps you should ask Rhychard’s son why I attacked you.”

The purple eyes had held his again.
Do you want to be a dragon? Then do what you must to take suspicion away.

Flashes of the memory as a dragon raced through Ken’s mind. The exhilaration he’d experience coursed through his veins.

“Forgive me,” Ken said, surprised the words were coming out of his mouth. “I did not tell anyone out of shame, but I was the one who attacked Kaluwa first.”

Yokatta.
Kaluwa’s voice reminded him of the purr of a kitten.

“What?” Uchida—
sensei
narrowed her eyes. “Are you making up some sort of joke?”

“
Iie
,
sensei
. I did attack first. She only responded to my brash behavior.”

“When I saw he was joined by a powerful Druman such as yourself, I did what I had to do to protect myself.”

“This is absurd!” Uchida—
sensei
threw her hand in the air. “Then why did you say I was interfering? And why did it appear as if you mesmerized Kenzo—
sama
if he attacked you first? Do you think I am an idiot?”

“It is the truth,
sensei
,” Ken fibbed again, heat rushing to the roots of his hair. Thankfully the firelight concealed his discomfiture. He’d never been a good liar, preferring to tell the truth than to remember a likely story but the intoxicating experience he’d been shown was worth the fib.

Very good, Rhychard’s son. I will reward you.

He shivered in anticipation of what such a reward would look like.

Why was Ken lying? Rin knew he was. The exchanged glances between Kaluwa and he had taken place throughout the interrogation confirmed it. Even if she had been the only one who noticed.

Had the Druman hypnotized him somehow? Was she making him lie for her? For what purpose? Rin opened her mouth to ask that very question when the Elder spoke.

“Kenzo—
sama
has recently come into knowledge about his lineage and his power. Perhaps he did it out of fear, or even the lack of control. Uchida—
chan
has been aware of her Druman capabilities since childhood. Therefore the greater responsibility fell to her to ascertain the situation before attacking you.”

“
Senpai
!” Rin cried out in outrage.

The Elder silenced her with a glance. Facing burning, she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Looking away, she came face to face with Luke. He quickly averted his gaze and she sighed. Their friendship would never be the same now that he and the others knew she was not human.

“Please accept my apologies for both of my people’s brash reactions,” the Elder said with an incline of his head.

Rin could barely keep her temper contained. Why was the Elder apologizing for the battle which left Kaluwa unscathed while she and Ken were sporting bodies bandaged and bruised? Curling her fist, her nails dug into the inside of her palms. Humiliation settled over her like an invisible film.

The barely contained triumph made the Druman’s eyes glow. Rin’s teeth ground against each other.

“I, too, apologize for my part in this misunderstanding.” She uttered the words with such queenly graciousness Rin wanted to snarl. She stole a glance at the Descendant, who was still held captive by Kaluwa. It made no sense. Her suspicion of some sort of mental manipulation grew.

“Please, if you can accept such a humble abode, allow us to repay the kindness you have shown to us by returning Callen.”

“I will stay for a little while. It is good to see my king is remembered, although he has been dead these many years.” Kaluwa contrived to appear sorrowful. Rin could not determine if this act was some kind of subterfuge.

“Rhychard—
sama
is not dead.” The Elder sent a warm glance to Ken. “He is alive in his descendants.” He motioned to Donvar, who came forward. Although he stood right in front of Rin, he chose not to look at her. The slight cut into her heart.

“Allow my people to meet you. How should we address you?”

The Druman looked away from the Elder to a point in the distance. “Men alone have such needs for titles. Dragons do not carry such distinctions. Yet, I was a member of my king’s court and was given an address of ‘my lady.’ It is of no consequence what you call me.”

Rin knew the Elder held the Drumans in high regard and wanted to make sure his actions reflected that. “Kaluwa—
no kimi,
please meet with my people.”

Kaluwa bowed and then stood. She towered over Alderic, who stood the tallest among the
juusha
. Sliding her purple gaze over the occupants she once again fixed her eye on Ken. Rin saw him give an almost imperceptible nod. She would have missed it had she not been staring so hard.

When the Druman left, Callen stood and also begged to be excused, pleading fatigue. The Elder gave permission, which left only Ken, the Elder and Michel, Alderic, Luke, Odin, and herself.

“
Senpai
, how could speak of me so dishonorably? And Kenzo—
sama
, how could you lie to us about the attack with Kaluwa?” She looked between both men, one who was like a father, and the other a student. Both had failed her this night.

“Uchida—” Ken started to speak when the old man held up his hand.

“I know Kaluwa—
no kimi
is lying, Uchida—
chan.
”

Rin drew back, shocked. A brilliant gleam of…mischief sparkled in the dark eyes. “
Senpai
…”

“I apologize for dishonoring you, but you must see the big picture. Her reasons for attacking you are her own, but it is important for us to not provoke her.”

“Why?” She crossed over and sat before the Elder.

“Kaluwa—
no kimi
has not joined Ludovicus.”

The fire crackled on this note, and she exchanged glances with the occupants. They did not avert their gazes from her. “I see,” she said slowly. “The enemy of my enemy…”

“…is my friend,” Luke finished.

“Unless she decides to become everyone’s enemy,” Odin retorted, ever practical and pessimistic.

“All of you know the Children of the Sun are against the Blue Mother. With each disaster, each one gives their strength to the Drumans. Ludovicus is growing stronger and so is Kaluwa—
no kimi
.” The Elder’s gaze flitted to herself and Ken. “And others,” he finished. “We are fortunate enough to know the blood gem has been destroyed, so there is no chance for Ludovicus or the others to become a dragon once more. However, we cannot allow Ludovicus free reign. If we have her on our side, we have gained a mighty ally.”

Rin frowned. The logic made sense, but she could not suppress a niggling sensation something was amiss. Ken squirmed next to her. Although having Kaluwa as an asset made a possible alliance advantageous, Rin did not trust her. Further, Ken had lied for her. Why? And why was the Elder conveniently ignoring that?

“Do what you can to ensure our people treat Kaluwa—
no kimi
appropriately.” He signaled to Michel, who came forward to help him up along with Alderic. Everyone bowed as the old man left on the arms of his son and his aide.

“I have something I have to do,” Ken muttered, and then ran out the chamber before anyone could say anything.

Was he running from her?

“Uchida—
sama
—”

“Don’t!” Rin roared, slashing the air with her hand. “You will not address me as such. I am still the same person I was before the confrontation with Kaluwa.”

“No you’re not.” Odin’s words were so deadpan and matter of fact it shocked her into silence. “The moment we saw you command the winds and Kenzo—
sama
create electricity, our entire relationship changed.”

Rin wanted to weep. Why did power change people? For some it made them arrogant and greedy for more. For others, it intimidated. For her friends and the
juusha
of Rhychard, it created an invisible divide, with a chasm growing wider by the minute.

“It doesn’t have to. I am still the woman who would lead you into battle. I’m the one who taught you all how to fight.”