The Blood King’s Apprentice

by David Alastair Hayden

  “This,” she purred, “is Paradise.”

  “It would be if not for the Blood King.”

  “He doesn’t scare me.”

  “He should,” Turesobei said. “You shouldn’t think that he healed you out of the goodness of his heart. He healed you in exchange for me becoming his apprentice.”

  “I know.” She looked into his eyes. “Turesobei, honestly and truly—do you love me?”

  That question, out of the blue, knocked the breath out of him. “Kurine, I…I like you a lot. I really do. But—”

  She put a finger on his lips. “We can work on you admitting it later. Let’s have lunch.”

  “Oh…okay…sure.”

  After another lunch of foods that were strange to her, he showed her the Bath.

  “It’s like the steaming lake that forms our oasis, except it’s inside.”

  “We’ve all agreed to go swimming later. Do you know how to swim?”

  Kurine shook her head. “We only bathed in the shallows of our lake once each year as part of a religious ritual.”

  “We can teach you how to swim. It’s not hard. Especially in a pool like this, where the water is still and not deep.”

  After that, they dropped by the Training Room and chatted briefly with Zaiporo and Iniru. They skipped the other section, not wanting to interrupt Awasa and Enashoma in case they were deep in meditation.

  They strolled back out into the garden.

  “Iniru has been really nice to me today,” Kurine said. “She isn’t acting jealous like before. In fact, she doesn’t seem quite herself. Has something happened?”

  “The Blood King killed her by reflecting one of my lightning blasts. She was dead for a couple of minutes, then he brought her back to life.”

  Kurine gasped. “She was dead? Completely dead?”

  Turesobei nodded. “Even though the initial shock has passed, she’s still struggling to get over her experience. The Shadowland affects everyone, some more than others, and you’re not supposed to come back from it. She’ll get better, though. It’s just going to take her a while. You’re lucky that you were trapped between life and death and didn’t have to experience it.”

  “Oh, Sobei, I was in the Shadowland. The whole time.”

  “You—you were?!” His heart fell into his stomach. He took her hands. “Oh gods! Kurine, I’m so sorry. I had no idea I had trapped you in that horrible place.”

  “How could you know?”

  “How are you okay after all of that? How did you manage not to go crazy or fall into Oblivion or go into Paradise? And the demons….”

  “I heard the call of Paradise, but I refused to answer it. I wasn’t ready to give up on life because I had something to live for. I had to come back for you. So I fought off the demons, wave after wave of them, and waited for you to save me. And you did!”

  “You turned down Paradise, battled demons and survived the Shadowland for me?!”

  She pinched his cheek. “Of course I did, silly. I love you.”

  Turesobei gulped. “But you’re—you’re as happy as you ever were. You’re not haunted by it at all. I mean, I’m glad you’re not, obviously. But you should be. Maybe the Blood King did something to you so you wouldn’t be.”

  She shook her head. “I never despaired in the Shadowland. Even as my memory faded, I remembered my love for you.”

  “Iniru was only in for a few minutes and it deeply scarred her. Love or not, you coming out of there is astonishing.”

  “When Kemsu died, he found me and tried to convince me to follow him to Paradise. He told me I was doomed, and that you wouldn’t be able to save me. But I never doubted you.”

  “You saw him?” Turesobei asked with amazement. “Did you see Narbenu, too?”

  “Kemsu said Narbenu went immediately to Paradise.”

  “I had wondered why you took the news of their deaths so well.”

  “I already knew. And I got to say goodbye to Kemsu. We goronku live in a harsh world. We grieve hard but not for long. We can rarely afford to.”

  He showed her the Library. “The Forbidden Library was like this but a hundred times bigger and more amazing.” He told her about the winged Keepers and everything they’d done there in detail.

  He took her back to her room, pulled the screen door open and showed her the gardens outside. A smile spread across her face.

  “Oh, I am never closing that door. I want to be outside all the time.”

  Turesobei stumbled into a bush. A cloud of crimson and gold butterflies took flight. Kurine cried out with delight.

  “There are so many little creatures here!”

  It must’ve been the fifth time she had said that. Earthworms, beetles, dragonflies: every little thing was a wonder to her.

  “I love all the birds and their songs. Though I fear all the noise may begin to wear on me. The Ancient Cold and Deep has nothing but a droning wind punctuated by occasional howls and screeches. Even in Aikora, where there are many voices, there's also deep silence.” She sighed. “It’s getting dark, but I don’t want to leave this for dinner.”

  “They can make food for us anytime.” He gestured toward her patio. “We can have the servants bring us food so we can eat here.”

  “How romantic! Let’s do that.”

  The crickets began their droning twilight song and Kurine flinched. She looked all around.

  “What is that? Where’s it coming from?”

  “Those are crickets. Small black insects. They cry mostly at night.”

  “It sounds like there are thousands of them.”

  “I’m sure there’s at least a few hundred of them out here.”

  “How wonderful.”

  Turesobei used the pull cord to summon a servant and ordered food for them. Then he lit the lanterns and they knelt together at the table on the patio.

  “Tell me more about what I missed,” Kurine said.

  After a long dinner filled with conversation, the servant took their dishes away and Lu Bei brought them tea spiced with ginger and nutmeg. Kurine liked this brew, which didn’t surprise Turesobei, since his mouth was burning.

  “Sobei, don’t think poorly of Iniru. The Shadowland is a harsh place. She never had time to adjust like I did.”

  “I’m not judging her. I’m just amazed by how well you handled it.”

  “I’m an upbeat person,” Kurine said. “So, have you sorted out your feelings yet?”

  “Well, I—I don’t know what to say.”

  “Iniru’s so lucky she met you first. If only that had been me.”

  “She doesn’t want to be an assassin anymore,” he blurted out, though he wasn’t sure why that was important.

  “That’s good. I’m…I’m sure she could make you happy.” Kurine winked. “But not as happy as I would make you, of course.”

  He laughed. Then suddenly, she moved in.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Turesobei didn’t understand how it had happened. Before he knew it, they were in each other’s arms, their faces pressed together. He’d forgotten how much he liked being close to her.

  He shouldn’t like it.

  He should say no and push her away.

  But her scent…her eyes…her mere presence made his head swim and his heart beat as if he’d just cast a powerful spell. He didn’t know why she was so intoxicating, but he couldn’t resist Kurine any more than he could resist Iniru.

  And he didn’t want to end her perfect first day back by rejecting her. That’s what he told himself. But he wanted to be in her arms. He wanted to slide his hands along her back, to stare into her emerald eyes, to kiss her.

  Their lips met and they melted into one another. Kurine moaned and pulled him closer.

  Turesobei was suddenly very self-conscious. They were out on the patio. What if someone heard? Iniru had incredible senses and was deadly silent. Iniru could even walk past and see them by accident. What in the name of all the gods was he doing?

  He pulled away. “
Kurine, until I’ve sorted everything out, we can’t do this. We just can’t.”

  “What’s wrong with the two of us kissing?”

  “Well…I mean…Iniru….”

  “Have you been kissing her?”

  “Yeah, I mean sort of…I mean…yes, I have.”

  “I had hoped you’d remain faithful to our promise,” she said with a disappointed sigh. “But you do love her, too. And I was out of the competition for a while.”

  “You’re not mad?”

  “I guess not.”

  “So you don’t mind?”

  “Well, of course I mind! I am your fiancée. And I’m a much better match for you. But our relationship doesn’t mean anything unless you choose me over her. I just need to win your love—all of it. In the meantime, I plan on having fun and enjoying this second chance at life. That means you should expect me to kiss you again.”

  “Oh.”

  She frowned deeply. “Since we are no longer on my world and goronku rules don’t apply here, I’m releasing you from your obligation to marry me.” Tears welled in her eyes. “You didn’t know what you were agreeing to, and it’s only fair for me to release you.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “You don’t want me to release you?” she asked in a hopeful voice.

  “Breaking it off is for the best,” he said. “I’m sorry, but if I do choose you, I think it’d be best if we weren’t already arranged to be married.”

  “A clean slate, then. But I will earn your love. Do not doubt that, Chonda Turesobei. But what about Awasa? Are you still engaged to her?”

  He laughed. “I guess we are, technically. But that was arranged without approval from either of us, and she’s a different person now.”

  “Has she given up on you?”

  “She says she’s not sure. But I think she has.”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “I don’t love her.”

  Kurine took his face in her hands and kissed him. “Someday, I will prove that I love you more than anyone else does. I will give you what you need the most. I will make you happy.” She snuggled into his arms. “Now tell me more about your Okoro.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Hours later, long after midnight, Turesobei gave an exhausted Kurine a goodnight kiss and helped her to her sleeping mat. She was asleep the instant she laid down. He crept back to his room, expecting to find Iniru. But she wasn’t there. Because he’d been out with Kurine?

  He rubbed his temples. He didn’t want to think about it. He couldn’t handle any more thoughts about girls or relationships. So he turned to magic, like he always did. He pulled out the scroll the Blood King had given him. Obviously it had a purpose. Since the Blood King wasn’t going to tell him what it was for, that meant it was a test, or something that couldn’t be taught; something that he had to figure out himself.

  He studied the characters on the scroll, sounding out the pronunciations. Lu Bei said it was gibberish, but he had to be missing something. It had to make some sort of sense. The spell was never going to work so long as he was blindly reciting it. He had to understand it.

  Okay, think like the Blood King. What kind of scroll would he make? What sort of magic would he need his apprentice to learn?

  It used the same energy activation as the short-ranged spell of locating that which is hidden, which only worked with a known object. The more energy you put into the spell and the stronger your connection to the object, the farther your range could be. So if this spell needed the same energy pathways, what was hidden?

  Kaiaru spells left out energy activations and pathways, sometimes even basic rune imagery and semantic components, so maybe it didn’t make sense because something was missing. Perhaps there were characters that fit in between the others, characters that would turn the gibberish into something that made sense.

  Iniru slinked into the room. “Your date over?”

  Barely looking up from the scroll, he muttered a yes.

  “I can’t believe she stayed up so late.”

  Slightly irritated at his concentration being interrupted, he set the scroll down. “What’s amazing is that she stayed up that late after walking through the gardens all day.” He looked up at Iniru. She wasn’t wearing her night clothes. She was wearing her regular clothing.

  Something was wrong. He swallowed. “Uh…hi.”

  Iniru rolled her eyes, walked over and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Ugh, you smell like her.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well…we spent the day together.”

  “And?”

  He shrugged. What was he supposed to say? Oh! He had good news for Iniru. “She released me from our engagement.”

  Iniru nodded but didn’t seem pleased. “But she hasn’t given up on you, obviously.”

  “She said she would win me over. That she would prove to me that she loves me more than anyone else.”

  Iniru’s face took on a sad, tortured expression. “Sobei, Kurine does love you more than anyone else.” She sat on the sleeping platform, tucked her knees up and drew her arms around her legs. “If it comes down to that—which one of us loves you more—Kurine will always win.”

  Utterly confused, Turesobei rushed over and knelt beside her. “Niru, what are you talking about? You do still love me, right?”

  “Don’t be silly. Of course, I do. But I could never love you as much as she does. Never.”

  “Why…why would you say that?”

  Iniru stared off to the side. “I told you I saw something in the Shadowland. Do you remember?”

  He nodded.

  “What I saw was Kurine.” Iniru stared into the distance. “She was awe-inspiring…terrifying. Dozens of demons charged her, but she slaughtered them easily. And with every swing of her hammer, she said two names: yours and hers.”

  She wiped away a tear. “Passion radiated off her like a bonfire, piercing the Shadowland’s deathly cold. But I was still too afraid to help her. All I could think of was my fate. What would happen to me? Where would I go?”

  She sobbed. “But Kurine had been there for weeks, fighting off demons so she could get back to you. And look at her now. She’s as happy as ever. You can’t even tell she was there. But I’m still a wreck.”

  “Niru, you had only been there a short while. I bet Kurine was terrified at first, too.”

  “Not like I was. I’ve never been so scared in my life. And until then, I’d always been able to risk my life to help someone else.”

  “You and Kurine were in very different situations. She could only die if she chose to let go. But you were dead. And it may not have been flashy, but you didn’t let go either. Obviously you wanted to return. No magic of the Blood King’s could’ve brought you back if you’d already gone into the beyond.”

  “Maybe….” She wiped her damp cheeks with the back of her sleeve. “But how Kurine feels about you…that’s a love I don't think I'm capable of.”

  “You can’t mean that.”

  She sank against him. “And here we are now. You smell like her. You’ve been in each other’s arms. You’ve kissed. I can tell. And I can’t help but think that maybe I should let you go, that maybe you’d be happier with her.”

  “That’s ridiculous! I love you. I will always choose you.”

  “But you were with her tonight. And you can’t tell me that you don’t love her.”

  “Niru, I—”

  She put her fingers across his lips. “No more talk. Just hold me.”

  He held her and eventually she fell asleep. He had never seen Iniru so fragile and vulnerable. And here she was feeling far more insecure than he had realized, while he had spent the day with Kurine. While he had made out with Kurine. And he had enjoyed it.

  He cursed quietly into the night.

  “I’m the biggest jerk in the world.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  When Lu Bei woke Turesobei at dawn, Iniru was already gone.

  The fet
ch handed him a bowl of tea. “Well last night certainly explained a lot.”

  He sipped on his mint tea. “What am I supposed to do?”

  Lu Bei shrugged. “Be yourself?”

  “That’s a lame answer.”

  “Sorry. It’s the best one I’ve got for this.”

  He didn’t understand why Kurine loved him so much. She hardly knew him. But then again, he hadn’t known Iniru all that much better when he had rushed off and risked everything to save her from the Deadly Twelve.

  “I’m pretty sure I’m being unfair to both girls. And I’m certain I’m a jerk.”

  “I don’t think you’re behaving badly, master.”

  “You did record everything from yesterday and last night, right?”

  “You didn’t tell me not to, master.”

  “Then your judgment is way off.”

  “That may be, master. That may be. But I watched Master burn through lovers for over two millennia. You will have to try a lot harder to screw up your love life to Master’s level. Sure, there were some peaceful decades, but looking back, it does seem like constant drama.”

  “I should talk to Enashoma about this.”

  “Probably, but you’re not going to, are you?”

  He shook his head. “Right now, Shoma still thinks well of her big brother. I don’t want her to know I’m a cheating jerk.”

  “Is it cheating if both girls know and neither one kicks you in the balls?”

  Turesobei spewed tea out through his nose. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

  “Well, there you go then.” Lu Bei tapped the scroll. “I suggest wizardry. That’s how Master ran from his girl troubles. Of course, it’s also what caused most of them.”

  For the moment, running seemed the best idea. “Right. I’m skipping breakfast today. Let’s get to work.”

  “That’s the spirit! Shall I make you another bowl of invigorating tea?”

  “Nah.” Turesobei stared at the scroll. “I think this is a spell of location. But I don’t know what it’s supposed to find. The energies center on my kenja-heart then tug me forward, like I’m trying to find myself but I’m in another place.”