The Divine Path (The Divine Series) (37 page)

“Darcienna
?” Kade asked.

“I can’t get to him, Kade.  It’s as if there is a wall in there.  Maybe you can try
something else.  Kade, there has to be something.  I can sense he is in there somewhere.”

“I have an idea,” Kade said as he
quietly moved the table out of the way and laid down at the Chosen’s feet.

“What are you doing?”
Darcienna whispered.

“Going to find him,” Kade said as he closed his eyes.

“Kade, I don’t know what you are going to do, but whatever it is, be careful.”

Kade closed his eyes and relaxed hi
s body.  He let every muscle melt, and then he called on the Divine to help carry his consciousness out.  The Divine drifted in like a current and pulled him with it.  He easily slid out of his body.  He drifted over to the Chosen and merged with him.  Kade sat in the chair as the Chosen had and felt contact.

“Doren, can you hear me
?” Kade asked.

Kade
watched as the room faded from view.  He felt a momentary jolt of panic and considered breaking contact but then decided against it.  This needed to work.  He felt as if he were in a huge, empty space.  There was nothing here, but somewhere off in the distance, he could feel a presence.  He forced himself to go deeper, and it was as if he fell through the floor.  Everything turned pitch black, and he plummeted.  He got the uncomfortable feeling that this could be a one way ride as he continued to sink deeper and deeper.  Kade called out but was met with silence as he continued to plunge downward.  Falling in complete darkness was unnerving.  He landed on what had to be the bottom and stood completely still, listening.  There were no sounds of any kind.  If not for hearing his own voice, he might have believed he was deaf.

“Doren
!” Kade yelled.  There was no response. “Dooorrrennnn!” he screamed again, but he was met with silence once more.

The
emptiness was too unnerving.  Kade decided that he had had enough of this dark pit and tried to climb back out.  Nothing happened.  Kade willed himself to ascend once more, but again, nothing happened.  He started to get the feeling of being in a trap and cursed.  A sound so faint echoed through the nothingness that Kade almost missed it.  He froze, not even breathing, if that was what he was doing.  There it was again.  Kade moved toward the sound and it became louder.

“Who calls for the Great Master Chosen
, Doren?” a voice demanded.

“My name is Kade,” he said excitedly.  After several long seconds of silence, he continued.
“I was sent to find you by Master Chosen, Zayle.”

“Zayle?” t
he voice asked cautiously.

“Yes.  He was my teacher.  He told me I needed to seek you out.”

“I know who you are,” the voice said with a sneer.  “You are Morg.  You cannot fool me, nor can you hurt me here,” it said full of confidence.

“W
AIT!” Kade screamed. “Why do you think me to be Morg?” Kade asked desperately.

“Why would I not?  You can do almost anything with that bloody
, cursed staff,” the voice said.

The voice sounded as if it were directly in front of Kade.  H
e was sure that if he reached out his hand, it would come in contact with a body.  He strained to make out any shapes and failed.  The darkness was getting to him.  Kade felt claustrophobia setting in.

“Because
, if I were Morg, I would be trying to kill you,” Kade said in a rush.

“Morg could not resist the temptation to torture me for what I did to him,” the voice countered.

“He really believes you are dead,” Kade said, pleading.

“He would not leave
me without making sure.  I have information he needs,” the voice said, but there was hesitancy in it.

“Well, he didn’t check.  He was too focused on me.  For some reason
, he needs me.”

“Maybe.
  I know you have tried to escape from my little trap, and you may be saying anything to save yourself.  If you are Morg, then there is no way out.  You cannot leave my mind.  I may have to sacrifice myself, but I will have beaten you again,” the voice said in triumph.

“This is a trap
?” Kade asked in panic.

“That depends,” Doren said.  Kade got the feeling he was being watched close
ly, even though he could see nothing.

“On what?”

“You still have not proven to me that you are not Morg.”

“How can I do that
?” Kade asked, trying to control his fear.  This was a fully trained Master of the Divine.  This was a Chosen.  He was only an apprentice.  If this man believed him to be Morg, his life was over.

“That is for you to figure out.
I will not give you the answer.”

“I’m not sure what I can do to convince you
, so I am going to tell you what I know and some of what has happened recently,” Kade said as he took a deep breath and prepared to tell the story.  He paused for a moment, considering if it was air he had breathed in, or if he just thought it was air.  He brushed aside the obscure thought and continued.  “Before I start, I must tell you, Morg has been called back by something that seems to have a hold on him.  He was furious, but he left.”

             
Doren did not respond so Kade proceeded to tell the story from the first moment he met the dragon right up to this very instant.  Doren only spoke to prompt him to continue.  Kade intentionally left out the part about the arch in the tunnel in the event that this was a trick by Morg.  He was fairly certain that Morg would not plan something this elaborate, but he had to be careful.  Morg was too impulsive and irrational.  This was too calculated.

             
“That was an interesting story.  Too bad you will never get the chance to bow down before your master’s feet like the dog you are,” Doren said as he taunted him.  “You were never any good at lying and you are still no good.  You will die with me here, hound!” Doren raged.  Kade panicked.

             
“NO!  My name is Kade!  You have to believe me!” he pleaded in desperation.

             
“I do,”

             
“I was sent by Zayle.  You have to…,” Kade was saying when he stopped.  His mind was spinning as he recalled those two words Doren had just spoken.  “You do?” he asked, confused.  “But I thought you just…,” he started to say and then stopped.

             
“Morg could never stand to be told he was to answer to another as if he were a dog being called by his master. And, when you told me of that, it gave me an idea.  Morg detested answering to anyone.   If you were Morg, you would have been infuriated by me telling you to bow down before a master.  That is his one true weakness.  If you were Morg, you would have exploded with rage.  And that, of course, would have ended your life,” Doren said simply.

             
“You had me convinced,” Kade said, wiping the imaginary sweat off his brow.  “So, you can get us out of here?  I left my friend, Darcienna, back in the room.”

             
“Is she in danger right this moment?  We need to talk, if possible.”

             
“I think she is ok for the moment, but I would not want to leave her for long.”

             
“Good.  We have some things to discus, first. You did say that Morg was called away, correct?”

             
“Yes.  He left.”

             
“Excellent.”

             
“Why is Morg so powerful?” Kade asked.

             
“You don’t know?” Doren asked incredulously.  “Have you seen a staff at all?”

             
“Yes.”

             
“That staff allows him to perform any calling without having to mold the Divine with hand movements.  The staff takes the place of that.  It was created by the Ancients thousands of years ago.  The symbols carved into the staff represent all the callings that that ancient artifact is imbued with.  All one has to do to use the staff is be able to speak the Ancients’ language.  While holding the staff, you only need speak the ancient language, if it requires speech, picture the symbol for the calling, and the staff does the rest.  It channels the Divine and does your bidding.  We never knew this until recently.  He always kept the staff cloaked.  He must be getting careless in his overconfidence,” Doren said thoughtfully.

             
“He has reason to be overconfident,” Kade said as he thought back on the crushing his body took.   “How were you able to beat him the first time?”

             
“There were too many of us for him to fight at one time.  We were not able to take that cursed staff from him, so we trapped him with it.   We hoped our trap would hold him forever, but apparently he is stronger than we anticipated.  Either that, or he had help, which is a strong possibility,” Doren said thoughtfully.

             
“Why not kill him?”

             
“He was able to protect himself with a shield and a few other tricks.  We were lucky to be able to trap him.  We lost two Chosen in that fight, so we accepted what we could get,” Doren said with a sigh.

             
“Is there no way to take the staff?”

             
“We have tried.  Our only hope was to try to communicate with one of the Ancients and ask them how we could conquer such immense power.  Enough talk about the staff,” Doren said, waiving away the topic.  “I need to think.  Let me be for a moment while I figure out what we are going to do,” Doren said as if talking to his own apprentices.  Although Kade understood that Doren was the far more experienced one here, he found it difficult to return to the status of an apprentice who was ordered around as if he were a child.

             
“There is one other thing,” Kade said, but Doren hushed him.  Kade shook his head as he tried to wait patiently.  “Doren, there is something else.”

             
“Kade, did Zayle allow this kind of outburst from his apprentice?” Doren asked, irritation showing easily.

             
“No,” Kade said meekly.

             
“Then please, do not shame him by doing so here.  You are with me, now.  Quiet until I say otherwise,” Doren said as if there was clearly to be no arguing.  Kade considered complying for a moment but only for a moment.

             
“I may not be a Master Chosen, but I will not be talked down to.  You must listen to what I have to say,” Kade said firmly.

             
Doren sat silently for quite some time.  Kade was starting to think that Doren had left as the silence continued on.  After what felt like forever, the Master Chosen finally spoke.

             
“I am listening,” Doren said evenly, but Kade could hear the tone that said, “This better be important.”

             
“There is one thing I neglected to tell you.  I know where the doorway is that Morg seeks.  I believe someone from the other side tried to communicate with me.  Well, not tried, but did communicate with me.  That is why I am here,” Kade said as he did his best to remain calm.

             
“You know?” Doren asked, the darkness vanishing as the Chosen stepped forward.  “Why didn’t you tell me in the first place?”

             
“I thought you might be Morg trying to trick me.”

             
“Wait a minute,” Doren said as he digested Kade’s words.  “Did you say you had talked with the dead?  Only the Ancients and their descendants can do that,” Doren said in awe.  “Kade, that means you are one of the descendants.  We must hurry.  If we went back to the doorway, do you think you could communicate with them again?”

             
“I’m not sure.  I believe so, but things did not go that well the first time,” Kade said, remembering the presence that tried to possess him.  “And, I did not really talk to them. I just, more or less, was given a message to come see you.”

             
“If that is all we have to work with, then it will have to do.  You said there is only two earth creatures guarding the room?”

             
“Yes.”

             
“Good.  I can take care of them.  I have lived here for many decades.  I know them well,” Doren said with confidence.

             
“Okay.  I will do what I can.  How are we going to get out of here?” Kade asked. 

No sooner did he ask the question than he felt himself be
ing propelled upwards at an amazing rate.  Kade shot out of the Chosen’s body and stopped at the ceiling.  He looked down in shock to see the earth creature nudging him and then drawing its foot back to really kick him hard.  He quickly descended into his body and opened his eyes. 

“I don’t think M
org is going to be very pleased if you do that,” Kade said in a snarl.  It froze, its foot still drawn back.