The Druid's Spear (Ascent of the Gem Bearers Book 1) (25 page)

“Is something wrong?”

He came closer to her and slowly reached up to tuck a wisp of hair behind her ear. The action startled her so much she could do little more than stare. Besides their training, which could hardly be called intimate, he’d never touched her. Vulnerability entered his eyes as he looked down at her.

When he’d taken a step back, Rin sensed it was more than just putting physical distance between them. “My mother used to say my name like that sometimes.”

“
Gomenasai
,” she apologized with a little bow. “I had no wish to bring you sadness.”

A strange little smile graced his lips. “It didn’t bring me sadness at all. I hadn’t heard it in so long.”

“Uchida-san
!” Luke called out as he ran down the slope to them. Breathing heavily as he stopped, his eyes had nonetheless grown as wide as saucers. “
Kitte da
! I think…I think Alderic is dead.”

“I told you there wasn’t much I could do,” Dericote was saying as Ken and Uchida—
sensei
ran into the shack.

The Elder had shriveled into a husk of a man. His sunken eyes were dim and devoid of their typical otherworldly glow. Alderic’s body lay before him, cleaned with a fresh pair of clothes, and still.

“He can’t be dead!” Uchida—
sensei
whispered, her amber eyes wide in disbelief.

“And yet, he hasn’t risen up and said hello to you,” Dericote responded scornfully.

The callousness of the Druman grated against Ken’s sense of fair play. The man was dead; couldn’t he show a little respect?

Apparently that was not to be because Dericote turned away with a wave of dismissal. “Get him out of here and shut the door on your way out.”

“Did you kill him?”

The moment she uttered the words, a terse silence fell over the group.

Dericote finally looked his daughter in the eye. “I didn’t kill him. I did what I could do because the old man brought him here.”

“But perhaps you didn’t try hard enough. If you had taken as much effort to heal him as you did to kill me, he’d still be alive.”

Ken wondered what the Druman would say to such an accusation. The words were not that far off from his analysis of the situation. Instead, Dericote shrugged and then turned away.

“Uchida—
chan
,” the Elder croaked out of thin, dry lips.

Ken stepped aside to let Uchida—
sensei
pass as she went to kneel before him. “
Hai
,
Senpai
.”

“Dericote did what he could. Please do not accuse him in such a way again.”

Her even white teeth bit down on her lips but she nodded curtly. “
Hai, Senpai
.”

“We must give Alderic a proper burial.”

Going about the motions of burying Alderic brought back the memories of Okasan and John. Standing about the stack of stones and rocks they eventually built around the grave they dug, Ken fought hard to keep his emotions in check.

Keep moving.

No matter how hard it was, he had to do just that. There would be time later to grieve, but right now, they had to get back to the
juusha
and find out how to stop Ludovicus.

As they started the trek back toward home, Ken stole a glance at Uchida—
sensei
. Through her it all, she remained quiet but her eyes mirrored the grief and turmoil inside. The others were just as subdued and stoic. Dericote hadn’t taken a second look when they carried Alderic away. When his door shut, Ken knew it would be the last time they’d see him.

The Elder seemed to have lost the ability to move or to walk. Without a saying a word, Odin bent and lifted the old man to carry piggy back down the mountain. Even though he’d offered to take a turn carrying the man, Odin declined. They all needed something to distract them from the pain of losing Alderic.

Though he and the man had hardly been close, Ken had no wish to see him dead.

His fist clenched. He longed for a chance to talk to the Druman about his ancestry. To know about this dragon grandfather of his but that was not going to happen. Kaluwa—
no kimi
had given him a taste of his true nature and he hungered for more.

It didn’t take long to return to the campsite from the previous night. In fact, the trip back was far quicker than the trip going up.

Uchida—
sensei
took the first watch as they all bedded down for the night. Her silhouette against the backdrop of night was one he carried into his sleep. The wind blowing her long hair as her head bent down made a desolate picture as the night sky teemed with glittering stars.

The next day, they traveled onward down the mountain. The snow had picked up in both density and speed, blinding them at times while dissipating at others. By some unspoken agreement Ken and Uchida—
sensei
had drifted farther ahead of the others. They walked side by side, not talking but still in silent communication with each other. Ken felt good just knowing she was by his side.

He glanced up and saw something in the distance. “What is that?”

Uchida—
sensei
looked up from her contemplation of the ground. “What?”

“Look ahead.”

She followed his finger pointing in the distance. A shadow was moving toward them at a sedate pace.

“Is that a person?” Ken squinted, trying to make out exactly what the figure was.

They both stared. “It’s coming directly towards us.” Uchida—
sensei
murmured. Gusts of snow blurred the view but the dark figure was definitely drawing closer.

A thread of alarm skittered along his back as the shadow came closer. Then a bolt of recognition hit him like lightning.

Uchida—
sensei
gasped. “That’s—”

“Kaluwa—
no kimi
,” he finished.

The snow-covered ground began to shift and then crumble under their feet. They jumped back as a hole appeared like a giant pit. No sooner had they dodged that one than another one appeared. Uchida—
sensei
swore as she avoided that one as well.

“Run!” she called out.

Ken didn’t have to be told twice. The wind whipped past him as they ran, snow flowing around them in swirls. More holes opened, dotting the ground like mines in a mine field.

Still Kaluwa
-no kimi
walked steadily on. Her laughter, which they should not have heard because of the fierce winds, reached their ears.

“Ken, hold on to my hand.” He latched on and the snow whirled about them. A pale blue light from the wrist bracelets glowed. They rose into the air. From his aerial positon, Ken saw the landscape pitted with dozens of holes.

“That was—”

Something hard and sharp slammed into his right shoulder and he yelped. Uchida—
sensei
cried out as well an instant later. The orb vanished and they both fell to the ground.

Grimacing and groaning, Ken clutched his shoulder as he sat up. Warm liquid dribbled from the wound. Whatever it was tumbled down the ground and he picked it up. It was a crudely shaped stone shuriken.

Throwing the offensive weapon away he crawled a few inches over to Uchida—
sensei
, but she had already risen. Standing he asked, “Are you all right?”

She didn’t answer the question but said, “We have to stop her.”

More shuriken flew at them and they both jerked to avoid them. With a growl, Uchida—
sensei
lifted her hands into the air and sent the next wave swirling harmlessly away from them.

And still Kaluwa
-no kimi’s
laughter reached their ears.

Uchida—
sensei’s
blood dripped from her fingers to land it bright red dots in the snow. “We have to combine our powers again like before. That’s the only way to stop her.”

Ken nodded and flexed his fingers. The pain in his shoulder throbbed away as the adrenaline coursed through.

“When I give the signal, I’m going to heat up the temperature of the wind.”

“Can you do that?” Ken interrupted, more than impressed.

“Focus,” she demanded. “When I do that, the snow around her will melt and I want you to use your lightening to and strike her with as much power as you can.”

He frowned. “Will this work?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

They started to run toward their adversary when the earth underneath shuddered. “What now?” Ken snarled.

The ground trembled and vibrated. They both fought to keep their balance. A mound rose up before them and then grew taller and taller. The snow fell in clumps to the ground as a massive wall of earth appeared before them, reaching several feet into the air.

“She’s trying to stall us!” Uchida—
sensei
slammed her hands against the wall.

“Why?”

The ground shoot again and two more walls on either side of them rose up. Frantically, they raced to go around them but before they got far, the fourth wall came, boxing them in. The only consolation was that was the wind and the snow could not penetrate.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Uchida—
sensei
’s face wore a wild, almost mad expression. Twitching eyes and curled lips made her almost unrecognizable as rage and something else took hold of her. She gave a spurt of a dry laugh.

“What are we going to do? This!” Hands raised, she drew in the wind from above and filled the space. She whirled the wind, the snow coalescing into an orb, reminding him of a snow globe. With a roar, Uchida—
sensei
sent the orb into the wall, breaking through it. A large hole made it possible for them to escape.

Ken watched as the orb continued its flight. The winds had picked up and camouflaged its presence. It was with a deep sense of pleasure he saw the orb bowl into Kaluwa
-no kimi
, lifting her into the air and sending her backwards. They ran after her, snow whipping about them. His blood pumped faster inside his veins.

Kaluwa
-no kimi
was stopped abruptly by a tree and the orb dissipated into the winds. She dropped to the ground. He and Uchida—
sensei
picked up speed, snow kicking up as they pounded the ground.

“Now!” They both shouted to each other.

A blast of warm air rushed past Ken, turning the snowflakes on his face and coat into droplets of water. Where Kaluwa—
no kimi
lay, a puddle of melted snow formed around her and soon became liquid.

“Ken!”

Focusing on the snow, lightning erupted from his fingertips and arced through the air toward the fallen Druman. The sparks of lightning danced on the water. Kaluwa—
no kimi
’s body jerked violently as she was electrocuted.

“Again!” Uchida—
sensei
ordered.

Ken sent another of spark of electricity, this one more powerful than the first. It caught the tree behind her and lit it into flames. Lightning sparked over Kaluwa—
no kimi’
s body, charring the folds of her cloak. As it continued, her scales along with her body blackened. Her pupil-less eyes rolled into her head. The spiked bones along her head had risen but were scorched.

Despite the fact she had tried to kill him, a wave of unease came over Ken. Without thinking too hard, he went to kick her out of the puddle. The moment he touched her, the lightning dissipated.

“Why did you do that?” Uchida—
sensei
yelled. “We could have stopped her once and for all.”

“Getting electrocuted hurts.”

The cold air swirled around them while the crackling of the lit tree punctuated the silence. “You cannot have mercy for a Druman,” she said a long minute later. “They don’t know what it means.”

“Perhaps,” he acknowledged with a nod.

A groan drew their attention back to the charred figure of Kaluwa—
no kimi
. The smell of burned flesh also reached their nostrils. Uchida—
sensei
knelt down and grabbed one of toasted bone spikes, forcing the Druman to look her in the eye.

“Why have you attacked us?”

Kaluwa
-no kimi
coughed and spittle of blood landed in a slashing way on her mouth. “The question,” she wheezed, “you should be asking is, how are your friends doing?”