The Divine Apprentice (The Divine Series)

by Allen J Johnston

  Has she not even seen me holding the boy? Kade started to wonder when he saw her glance at the child as she moved around to his arm. It was very slight, and had he not been watching her closely, he would have missed that glance.

  Why in the Great Divine would she not take this child? It is hers, he thought as he shook his head.

  “Why…” Kade started to ask when she cut him off, clearly knowing the unfinished question.

  “Because, he is asleep,” she said absentmindedly as she examined the damage. “Because, if you put him down, even into my arms, he will wake and cry. And,” she said as she hesitated and looked him straight in the eye, “because he is a good judge of character. You can’t be all that bad if he likes you. Normally, he does not like anyone but me. You get to be my sitter while we get that taken care of,” she added while indicating his hand and arm. Any suspicion she had was now gone.

  Kade felt his heart leap when she looked at him. He could not help but to smile. Right then, he knew he would do anything she asked. Kade shook his head hard in an attempt to stop these uncontrollable thoughts. He felt drawn to her, even though he had just met her.

  Was she using the Divine? he considered when he realized that she was talking again. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to regain control, he focused on what she was saying.

  “I said, what happened to your hand? Did you hit your head?” she asked with concern as she looked for injuries. She gently felt the bump on the back of her own head and pulled her hand away to see if there was any blood. There was none.

  “Yes,” Kade was saying as he looked into those beautiful, mesmerizing eyes. It was the best way to cover for his strange behavior. Angry for looking like a buffoon, he furiously chastised himself and forced these odd feelings to go away.

  She must think me a fool, he thought, regretting that his chance to impress her with his prowess was slipping away.

  “Well?” she asked.

  “Well what?”

  “Well, what…happened…to…your…hand?” she asked with forced patience.

  It had to do with her voice. It had to, he thought. Her voice was musical as it rang in his ears.

  “My hand?” Kade asked as if just remembering. “Oh, it happened when I almost lost control of the Lightning Calling,” he said and immediately regretted it. She does not need any more reason to see me as incompetent, Kade thought harshly. Anger cleared his head and he, once again, forced this strange influence from his mind and body.

  “A what?” she asked in awe.

  “It was a Lightning Calling. I was using it when I lost control of it. I lost my concentration,” he said, giving up trying to hide his incompetence. “I had to force the power up and out my hand, but by the time I did, it had built to a level beyond my abilities,” Kade said matter-of-factly.

  “You can control the Divine?” she asked as her eyes widened. Are you…are you …a Chosen?” she whispered.

  Kade felt himself start to swell with pride, and then just as quickly, he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He dreaded having to tell her he was only an apprentice. He wished he could tell her he was, indeed, a great Master of the Divine Power, but it was not his style to lie. He took a breath, ready to confess to being a lowly apprentice, but before he could answer her question, she refocused her attention on his hand.

  “If you are one of the Chosen, then why don’t you use the Divine Power to heal your hand?”

  “Well, if it was possible, I would need my hand to perform the calling. As it is,” Kade said with a sigh,” I cannot use the Divine Power to heal myself. At least, I don’t know a calling that allows me to heal myself.”

  “Oh,” she said as she gently slid her hand down his arm to his palm. Kade felt himself melt at the soft touch and soaked up the sensation. She was caressing the burned palm with the fingers from her right hand while supporting his with her left. Kade felt his eyes close slightly. He became angry that he was, once again, losing what sense of mental balance he had and jerked his hand away from her. She tried to grasp it before he could pull it away but was not quick enough. The flood of pain flowed through him like a dam breaking. Kade sucked air in violently through clenched teeth, making a sound like a hiss. She quickly reached for his hand and started her gentle caress once more.

  “It takes time for this to work,” she said as she looked at him apologetically. “You did not notice the pain was almost gone?” she asked as she looked at him with a sidelong glance.

  Kade did not answer as he gritted his teeth and waited for the torture to end. She stroked his arm and he could feel her working…something, but he could not put it into words. It was almost as if she were soothing the pain with the Divine Power, but there was no sign of the Divine being used. He would have sensed it, or seen the trails of it as she moved her hands. There was nothing.

  “Come inside and I will put something on that. We have some herbs that will help the healing. It will take the swelling down,” she said as she turned toward the cabin. She wavered slightly from exhaustion. Kade prepared to catch her when she steadied. He could see that she was doing her best to hide her plight, but it was obvious that she was completely drained.

  “You may have a head injury,” Kade said as he looked at where he had dabbed blood from her forehead. The bump that was already swelling confirmed his suspicion.

  “I am not physically hurt,” she said, trying to dismiss his concern. “I just passed out from the exertion. I am a little sore is all,” she said as her grip on his hand loosened slightly. Kade winced at the pain that he knew she was keeping at bay. Her grip became steady again and Kade got the strong feeling that she was very focused on whatever it was she was doing. It almost appeared as if she were taking very deliberate steps as though she was being careful of where to put her feet.

  “Good,” he said, as he studied her. By the way, what is your name? I can’t just call you girl,” Kade said as he walked up the steps and went into the cabin.

  “Darcienna,” she said. Her voice wavered ever so slightly.

  Kade smiled. The name sounded musical to his ears. He said the name in his mind several times, waiting for her to continue.

  “Thank you,” she said over her shoulder. Kade found himself leaning to the side to see her eyes and quickly forced himself to stand up straight. She had turned forward too quickly, regardless. “Come inside,” she said as she tugged at him.

  Kade followed her and was surprised when she led him straight to a room with a bed and chest for clothes. By the clothes hanging in the corner and the hairbrush sitting on a table in front of the mirror, he knew this was her bedroom.

  “You can lay the boy here,” she said as she indicated a small bed just inside the door to his right. “Do you feel okay?” she asked. She had to focus on her words as though she were under a strain.

  “Yes. I am fine. I don’t think it would be a good idea to put him down. He will just start crying again,” he said as he narrowed his vision suspiciously, sensing something was wrong.

  “I doubt he will cry even one little squeak,” Darcienna said as she held onto the bed for support.

  Kade looked at her hand on the bed for just a moment and then turned his attention to the boy. He was, indeed, breathing deeply and rhythmically. Kade noticed, for the first time, that the boy had loosened his grip on his neck and was hanging limp at his side. He leaned the child back to get a good look at his face. Content that the boy was sound asleep, and as gently as possible, he laid the child down on the bed. To his immense relief, the child did not utter the slightest sound other than the deep breathing. Kade flexed his arm, working out the cramps. The boy was heavier than he realized.

  “Are you okay?” Kade asked.

  “Come in here,” Darcienna said as she pulled him toward the kitchen. She stumbled and fell against the wall. Kade quickly put an arm around her waist for support. He did his best to ignore how she felt as she stood this close. “I’ll put something on your hand,” she said with just a hint of slurrin
g to her words. “You should notice most of the pain fade,” she continued, dismissing his questioning look.

  She pushed him into a chair and fell heavily into the other one that was facing him. She could no longer hold his hand and let go. Kade gripped the armrest hard with his good hand and the wood crushed beneath his grasp. He did not see that she was breathing heavier, his mind still reeling from the pain. The crease in her forehead gave away that she was under immense strain, but he could not see it through his eyelids that were slammed shut.

  “Hold still,” Darcienna said.

  Reaching into a jar, Darcienna pulled out a large amount of a green, slimy substance. She reached for his arm to spread the gel and missed. On her second attempt, she was able to grab his hand and spread the salve thickly from his wrist up to his elbow. Next, she wrapped both her hands around his arm and clenched her jaw as her head rocked backward, straining. After a moment, she took a ragged, gasping breath. She wobbled slightly in the chair and would have fallen had Kade not reached forward to steady her.

  “You are not well,” he said, concern heavy in his voice. He flinched from what felt like pulsating pressure being applied to his injured arm. When he looked down, he saw that the gel writhed along his arm as if it were alive. He had to fight the urge to scrape it off as if it were a deadly snake. It was surging all around his arm and even appeared to be melting into his skin. It was not necessarily painful, but it was incredibly uncomfortable and very unsettling to watch. Kade looked on in awe as the swelling went down, and the pain dwindled to a dull thrumming.

  Darcienna was sitting back with her hands open, palms up. She was breathing in deep as if pulling air as far into her lungs as possible. There were beads of sweat on her forehead. Kade flexed his hand, testing his muscles in hopes of using the Healing Calling on her. Still not good enough, he pressed his lips together in frustration. He felt helpless with so much power at his fingertips, and yet, he was not able to use any of it. But, even if his hand had been healed enough, he could not have used the Divine. His hand was jumping and flexing as though something were squeezing and letting go, only to squeeze again.

  Kade looked over at Darcienna and found her looking back. Her color was returning. She was doing her best to appear normal, but Kade could see it was an act. He chose to pretend not to see the strain on her face. He looked at his hand and then back to her as if to ask for an explanation.

  “The Divine is very powerful. You are lucky it did not kill you,” she said, ignoring his unspoken question.

  “Yes, I am lucky that this is all that happened. I could have easily been blown to pieces,” Kade said as he mentally shivered. He recalled how hard it was to get control of the Lightning Calling and visibly shook.

  Darcienna took several more steadying breaths and then reached for the clean cloth on the table. She motioned for him to give her his hand. Kade complied with just a little of hesitation.

  Wrapping the cloth around his hand several times, she gently tied a knot to keep it secure. Carefully, she set his hand down on the table. When Kade went to pull it back, she gently laid her fingers on his arm, indicating he was not to move. When he ceased his pulling, she closed her eyes and then tilted her head as if listening to something. After a moment, she smiled slightly and opened her eyes. She looked down, as though she could see through the cloth, and a slight quirk at the corners of her mouth indicated she was pleased with the results.

  “There. That should do. It will heal in good time,” Darcienna said and sat back heavily. She resumed her pose of palms up and deep breathing for several long minutes. Kade watched her closely without moving a muscle, afraid that any sound or movement might disturb whatever it was she was doing. After what felt like an hour passed, she slowly, opened her eyes. Kade was amazed at the improvement. She looked better than he expected. The slightly dazed look she had had since he woke her was gone.

  “OK, what was that?” Kade asked, tilting his head toward his hand without breaking eye contact. He was watching her closely as he analyzed her reaction. “Divine Calling?” he asked, already suspecting it was not. She took a breath in to answer and Kade’s eyes narrowed. He could not say why but there were times when he could sense when someone was about to lie and this was one of those times. She saw the look of suspicion in his eyes and stopped. Her shoulders slumped in resignation and she let out her breath.

  “We call it Nature’s Gift,” Darcienna said as if she were giving away a sacred secret. She glanced at Kade but he sat silently, letting her continue. “I had to take the energy from within myself and apply it to your wounds. Every little thing I do with my gift drains me. If I was not already so exhausted from using my deflection casting, I could have healed you without any help,” she said, indicating the salve, “but I was almost completely drained. The best I could do was to energize the gel and let it do the healing.”

  “What do you mean the energy from within?” Kade asked, confused. This Nature’s Gift was new to him. Kade had a suspicion that this was another thing that Zayle had conveniently forgotten to tell him.

  “The ability comes from within me. If I use too much, I can deplete the energy, and I have to replenish it to use it again.” Darcienna saw that Kade was trying to work this out and continued. “It is like having the strength to lift a log. I can do it the first time easily but using it over and over I get weaker and weaker until the log is too heavy. I have to rest and replenish. Jorell’s abilities are much more impressive than mine,” Darcienna said and then stopped. Her eyes lost focus as she narrowed her vision, trying to recall something.

  “That explains why your Deflection Casting failed,” Kade said.

  “Yes,” she said as she slowly looked back over her shoulder, searching for what was missing. “My strength was exhausted,” she said as she slowly rose from her chair, her eyes moving around the room as she listened. “I am lucky I held out as long as I did,” she said almost absentmindedly. A look of concern flashed in her eyes and she quickly glanced back at Kade.

  *CH7*

  Darcienna left the table and Kade got a very sick feeling in his gut. He found it hard to look up from his hands as Darcienna ran from room to room. He took a breath several times to tell of the old woman he had seen at the edge of the clearing but could not bring himself to cause her the same crushing sadness he had felt at losing his precious master. He swallowed several times, trying to remove the lump from his throat.

  “Jorell,” Darcienna called out. “Where are you?” she yelled, trying to stay calm.

  Kade felt as though he was going to be sick. His stomach twisted into a knot. He could feel the blood drain from his face as he tried to figure out how he was going to break such devastating news to her. Darcienna came to a stop directly in front of him and he cringed.

  “Do you know where she is?” Darcienna asked. “Well?” she asked impatiently.

  Kade’s eyes slowly rose to look into Darcienna’s soft, beautiful, blue eyes, knowing the pain he would see as soon as she learned of her teacher’s demise. He swallowed hard and tried to find the best way to say what needed to be said. He took a breath to speak when she spoke first.

  “The last thing she told me was I need to keep the shield up as long as possible, no matter what. I am sure…,” she started to say when she saw the look on his face. “Are you okay? You look pale.” Kade, still unable to speak, sat silent. “She has to be around here somewhere.” Darcienna said. But, even in her own ears, it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself of something she knew was not true. She paused, watching him while he was looking down at his hands again. “Kade,” she said, her voice a bit shaky. “What is it?” she asked, her voice already filling with pain. “What’s wrong?”

  Darcienna looked away, not wanting to hear what he was about to tell her. Kade heard the ever so soft intake of breath, as if she were starting to cry but trying hard not to. He would have taken any amount of physical pain to save her from the hurt he knew she was about to feel. He was all too famil
iar with the crushing sadness felt when losing a cherished soul to the land of the dead.

  “Do you know?” she asked, and then her throat closed up. Darcienna swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut momentarily as she ground her teeth. After a few seconds, she tried again, but the words just would not come. Kade’s eyes started at her boots and slowly traveled up until he was looking into the windows of her soul. He could feel the pain already. It cut him deep. Her voice broke slightly and all she could utter was, “Show me,” as a single tear worked its way down her cheek to catch the edge of her soft, pale, pink lips.

  Kade desperately wished he could be doing anything other than leading Darcienna to the old woman laying at the edge of the clearing. If he could, he would have been wringing his hands together in discomfort. A habit he had picked up from his mother. Taking a deep breath, he slowly stood, and with just a slight glance into those sad, blue eyes, he turned and headed out of the cabin. As he walked across the clearing, he cast a quick glance back at her. She was trying so hard to be brave.

  Kade led her to the broken body and stopped several feet away. He expected her to fall to her knees but she just stood, staring. She shook her head several times and then looked around the clearing as if trying to figure something out.

  “But how? She killed them.”

  “We killed two,” Kade said, looking around to see if there were more and found none. He reached out to comfort her. He could not recall ever feeling such a burning desire to hold and comfort someone as he did right then, but as he reached out a hand toward her, she pulled away.

  “You…killed them?”

  “Yes,” Kade said, feeling a slight bit put off by the tone that hinted at doubt. He quickly dismissed it, feeling ashamed.