“I hope we don’t get impaled.” Rin added, echoing his thoughts.
With bated breath they continued to drift slowly downward. Ken’s was unaware he’d been holding his breath for until he gulped in air. Then he saw the ground, unencumbered by spikes, and released a sigh of relief.
They landed on the ground, right in front of a doorway. They rushed and then skidded to a stop.
Kaluwa stood before them.
“If you’d taken the right way,” she said pointedly, “you have gotten here sooner.”
Behind her was a door which would inevitably lead to Ludovicus.
“Get out of the way, Kaluwa,” Rin said. The tension along her frame could be felt. It touched him like tentacles.
“Let’s just get on with this.”
The chamber began to shake and rumble. Pieces of the ceiling fell to the ground. Ken glanced up to see wicked looking stalagmites trembling from the overhang.
“I’ll bury you so deep no one will find your bodies,” the Druman taunted. Her hands stretched out, the rocks falling to the ground lifted into the air and came spiraling at them in a barrage. Ken cried out as a fist sized one slammed into the side of his head. A warm trickle dripped down the side of his face but he ignored it.
Rin didn’t go unscathed but she stood firm, arms up to protect her from most of the blow. The rocks that fell got larger, slamming to the floor. Was the ceiling going to come down? Even if it did, they could not go back. Ludovicus had to be stopped.
He lunged toward Kaluwa but jerked back as a large stalagmite fell two inches from him. Had he not moved quickly enough, he’d have been impaled. The chamber still continued to shake and he fell to his knees. He turned to see how Rin fared. She was now on one knee, squinting at Kaluwa. Then she lifted her hands into the air.
The sound of wind came into the room, roaring like a mighty lion. It sent the rocks away from them, casting some of them back at Kaluwa. It flowed along the walls. The rocks were caught in its grip and Ken saw them flying around them as if they were in a tornado.
Faster and faster the wind blew, gaining in strength. The roar of it magnified. Kaluwa was being dragged across the floor as she attempted to remain unaffected.
“Ken!” Rin shouted, her voice almost lost in the noise of the wind. “Get on my back!”
“What?” Perhaps he hadn’t heard her right.
She walked over to him and without another word, lifted him onto her back. “Hold on!” They rose in the air. Rin’s hand reached out and closed around…an air current? He couldn’t be sure, but she held onto the wind like one would hold onto the cable in a subway train. They traveled the wind current, the walls of the chamber swirling past them repeatedly. He thought he’d get dizzy.
Kaluwa’s form was just a blur now, but he could tell she’d lost her advantage as her body rose into the air. The funnel around the cave increased in speed and power. Unable to find purchase, Kaluwa tumbled about. She crashed into the rocky surfaces of the chamber over and over again.
“Get her now, Ken. Now!”
He didn’t have to be told what to do. Concentrating with every effort, he sent a focused beam directly into Kaluwa’s tumbling body. Electricity cascaded over her again as before but the intensity was greater. Wrapped in a diaphanous blanket of blue, glittering light, she continued to tumble back and forth in grip of the wind tornado. Her mouth hung up as her body blackened by the force of Ken’s attack.
She landed on the ground a final time, twitching as the electricity finished arcing through her before becoming still.
Rin’s shoulders tightened under his grip as they lowered to the ground. The wind current travelled with them.
“Get ready, Ken,” she called over her back.
His hand already sparked with light. “I’m ready.” The tingle surged through him. It was something about this place that was making him stronger. He just knew it.
His heart thumped with trepidation, excitement, and something else. Being with Rin, fighting by her side…well on her back, anyway, gave him a high like he’d never experienced.
“One down, one more to go.”
With a battle cry, Rin sent the wind into the door and it crashed inward. Bright light spilled forth from the interior.
One down. One more to go.
The weight of Ken’s body was nothing compared the drive to kill Ludovicus, and they flew through the broken door. A lightning burst from above went past her ear to take aim at Ludovicus, but he jumped out of the way before it could do any harm.
Rin took inventory of their surroundings. White circular walls of some kind of mineral dominated the majority of the dome-like chamber. Bisected in the center by a tall partition of brick, it divided the room in two parts.
What was on the other side of the wall? But seeing the transformation in Ludovicus’s body sent shiver down her spine.
He had changed into something more hideous than he already was. The scales had deepened in color, saturated to a dark, indigo purple. They’d thickened as well, resembling dense opaque plates. Two more feet of height had been added to his stature as he towered above them at nine feet tall. The transformation of his face was the most startling. It took on a more reptilian appearance. A tiny bony ridge edged along the underside of his elongated, triangular chin, jutting forward. Protrusions of skin and scales twisted along the side. The space between the black eyes had increased, pushing the orbs further to either side of his head.
“What are you doing here?” Even his voice had changed. Gone was the deep timbre of thunder. Instead, a light rasp of a snake took its place. As she watched, a forked, flat tongue darted out and licked his face.
“We’re going to stop you.”
Ludovicus’s eyes blinked slowly. “You can try.”
It was then Rin noticed the movement. The guards ran toward them.
“Kill them!” Ludovicus’s raspy voice reverberated along the chamber.
Ken leapt off her back and landed on the ground, cracking the surface from the impact. That continuous stream of power coursed through his veins as she landed beside him. Back to back, they faced the guards that surrounded them, fifteen in all, but they may as well have been insects.
“We can take them.” Ken whispered harshly, echoing her thoughts.
“He’s trying to delay us.” Her eyes were glued to the enemy before them, waiting for the first one to make a move.
“C’mon, let’s get this over with. From the way Ludovicus is transforming, we don’t have much time.”
Rin didn’t know how many fell by her hands. She remembered going into a zone, adrenaline pumping through on high speed. Faster and stronger her blows came and went. Bones crunched and cracked. Blood squirted and flowed. Men wailed and cried. Strength and power poured into her from an invisible reservoir. Was it this place?
At one point while she had jammed her knee into an unfortunate groin, she spied Ludovicus hurrying around the partition, the blood gem and Vessel gripped in his hand.
When the last one fell to ground, she surveyed the aftermath. The men lay about like drunks, some alive, some dead, but all incapacitated. Ken stood next to her, breathing hard, his knuckles bloody. A dangerous light had entered those eyes of his as he met her gaze.
She inclined her head. “Behind the wall.”
They sprinted to it and then stopped. What they saw froze them to the spot.
Five great statutes of dragons loomed above them. The color of wet ash, they were set inside an alcove carved from the cave walls. Rin moved in closer, her eyes eating up the sight before them. They were in various stages of movement. Two of the statues had wings outspread as if to take flight, their mouths open in a cry. One lay curled into a ball, its wings covering it like a blanket. The last two drew her attention to them for more than their life-like appearances. One sat on its haunches, towering over the others. Its wings were drawn to its side, head bowed submissively. The other stood on its legs, arms and feet spread apart, mouth open as if emitting fire.
In front of this statue stood Ludovicus, his back to them.
“Glorious, aren’t they?” He rasped without looking around.
Rin had to admit it. She studied the dragon he had fixed his eyes on. It was him, but more magnificent and terrifying. Fearsome to behold.
“What is this?” Ken breathed. Rin glanced at him and saw his eyes transfixed on the statue with its head bowed. It was Rhychard—sama.
Ludovicus reached out and caressed the figure of his dragon self. “Our bodies. Locked beneath the earth until the Druid’s Spear began to pierce the fabric of creation. Hidden away from man until we could return to them.” A mournful tone escaped as he said, “It’s been so long.”
“Those must be Dericote and Kaluwa’s bodies.” Ken pointed his finger to the two statutes with their wings outstretched. Studying them, she could see the resemblance of the Drumans they represented. She bit down on her mouth. The obstinate tilt of her father’s form was easily recognizable.
Ludovicus moved, and she came back to the matter at hand. Stopping him from reuniting with his dragon body. Raising her hand, she called the wind forth. It entered, an invisible beast, roaring like a lion.
“It’s getting hot, isn’t it?” Ludovicus said conversationally.
The temperature in the room increased and in mere seconds, the chamber took on the heat of an oven. Steam rose from the statues before them. Rin fought the oppressive heat as she called forth more wind.
“Rin, stop!” Ken said.
But she recognized what was happening too late. As the heat spiked, it warmed the air and the pressure built up in room. The wind, her ally, now became her enemy.
Gasping, she fell to her knees, beaten down by the weight. Blisters popped up along her arms. Sweat dribbled down her face. Her hair lay damply against her forehead.
And still the temperature climbed.
She could hardly move. Her head felt as heavy as a metal ball. Watching, she saw Ludovicus knock the blood gem, the one Ken had brought to them, encrusted with its rocky coating against the foundation where his dragon self stood. The pieces fell off it. Reddish light emanated from the gem, glorious like a miniature sun. Then he pulled something from around his neck. It also began to shine. He put the two pieces together. An instant later, an invisible wave pulsed from where the blood gem sat in his hand.
Her heart thrashed about in her ribcage while her lungs were about to burst. Visible swells of heat danced before them. The blisters burst, fluid leaking from them.
Still the chamber grew hotter.
She could no longer sweat. Her body felt so hot she could almost cook an egg in her hand. The weight grew more and Rin collapsed to the ground.
The Elder had been wrong all along. There was no way she could defeat Ludovicus.
Kens’ mouth gaped open as he sought for air. Behind him, he could hear the screams of the fallen guards as they begged their master for mercy. It wasn’t long before their cries were still.
Rin dropped to the ground, her lovely face marred by open, bursting sores and peeling skin. Something inside of him recoiled at the sight. Not this woman. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.
But how could he beat this? The heat was going to kill them just as it had the guards.
Despair whispered into his mind. He landed on his knees. The floor burned through the fabric of his pants, but even then he was unable to move. Did he really think someone as insignificant as he could win? What arrogance. Ludovicus wasn’t even a dragon and look how they fared under this power. He wasn’t even taking them on physically. What chance did they ever have of defeating him?
The sweat dried along his scalp. Rin twitched along the ground, moaning since the floor had turned into a skillet. They were both going to die here under the earth just as Kaluwa had said. It had been foolish to think otherwise.
Keep moving.
Ken started weakly, hearing his mother’s voice.
Keep moving.
The despair that had clouded his mind retreated under the impact of those two words. Did he want to honor the memory of his mother? Was John’s death to go unpunished? Staring at Rin writhing in agony, he pressed his lips together. Was he going to let his sensei to die a miserable death after all she had done for him? Was Alderic’s death so meaningless that he would just stand here and wait to die?
Ken, keep moving!
Standing up despite the weight of the heated air, he went to Rin and yanked her to her feet. She cried out at the abuse but he ground his teeth and ignored it.
“Help me out this one last time,” he told her.
With his last ounce of will, he tapped into the electricity in the air to himself. The hair along their bodies stood on end as static electricity began to build. Rin’s hands tightened in his. Wind flowed once more in the room.
Ludovicus turned. Since a few moments ago, he’d grown half a foot taller, nearly ten feet. Ken and Rin took a step toward him, the effort similar to walking through a wall of wax. But then they took another step.
“What do you two think you’re doing?”
Focusing, the static sparked and the wind grew in intensity. The temperature climbed up, causing more steam to lift from the surface. But Ken pushed further.
He kept moving.
The nearer they came to Ludovicus, electricity and wind coalesced into a suspended ball of lightning floating it front of them. Arcs of lightning flagellated the walls. It acted as a shield, turning away the oppressive heat. Ken took in a gulp of air and felt his skin began to cool.
Ludovicus snarled as they approached, Rin’s hand still locked in his. Wind and electricity coiled around each other, similar to a Tesla ring. With a downward nod of his head, Ken sent the coil lunging forward in a burst of energy. It collided with the ball before them and they merged into a single beam that landed in the middle of the Druman’s chest. It lifted the almost ten foot adversary into the air and flattened him against a wall.
Wild, raspy shouts erupted from Ludovicus’s mouth as the beam seemed drive into his chest. Scales, charred and burned, flaked off his body. His limbs danced crazily. Then the beam abruptly dissipated as Ken’s will weakened from exhaustion. Ludovicus landed on the ground, fracturing the earth.
He twitched once and didn’t move again.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Rin allowed the tension in her shoulders to ease as both she and Ken relaxed to the ground.
The Elder had been right. She had been able to defeat Ludovicus. “We did it!”
Ken laughed, covering his face with his hand. “I can’t believe it.”
“We did it!” she cried out again, the words echoing eerily in the chamber. A sharp shooting pain struck her and she winced. All her aches howled now that the rush of power and adrenaline had gone. Her body felt like a throbbing sore.
Shifting to her side, she studied the man beside her. Her student had excelled well. The uses of his power, his quick thinking, and even his rashness had all worked together to bring about this success. She thought back to the night when they carried him away from the city, a bruised, broken man of both mind and body. Now, look at him. He’d brought about a Druman’s end.
And saved her life.
Without conscious thought, she reached out and clasped his arm. Ken faced her, the light brown eyes questioning.
“Rin?”
Sitting up into kneeling position, she gave him a formal bow, her head touching the floor. “Domo arigato, Kenzo—sama.”
A wet sheen appeared in his eyes and his Adam’s apple moved. Scrambling, and hissing from the result of his own aches and pain, he returned the gesture. “Domo arigato, Uchida—sensei.”
They stared at each other. Rin took in the face with its scars and blisters. Strange, she had never really looked at him before. He was handsome in a quiet, understated way. Beneath the grime, his angular chin and cheekbones meshed with curly, almost feminine lashes.
Why was she just now seeing this?
Ken broke eye contact
. “We should get out of here.”
She blinked. “Hai.” Warmth flooded her face.
They rose and stretched, grimacing as their bodies protested. “Looks like it’s going to take more than a few hours to heal this time,” Ken observed.
Rin nodded. “You’re right.”
Seeing Ludovicus’s prone body on the ground sent a wave of satisfaction through her. “I’m going over to make sure he’s dead.”
“He is dead,” Ken rebutted. “You’re just going over there to gloat.”
She turned away from him, shocked to know it was true. A part of her, a tiny, miniscule part, just wanted to see the results of their handiwork.
“Neither of us could have taken him down by ourselves,” she said as she made her way there. “But working together, we did what we had to do.”
“What are we going to do with his body?”
Rin squatted down next to Ludovicus as she glanced up at Ken. “Senpai will know what to do—”
Something constricted around her throat, squeezing hard and cutting off her oxygen. Wheezing and gagging, she was lifted into the air. She came face to face with the gloating, glowing, iridescent eyes of Ludovicus alive.
Rin lashed out, trying to kick at him with her feet. She scraped at his arm and hand.
A cruel, utterly merciless smile, the first she’d ever seen in from him, wreathed his face in a macabre mask. He drew her to him until they were nose to nose. His long forked tongue licked her cheek, the moistness from it making her skin crawl.
“I guess I’m not dead, am I?”
When Ludovicus licked Rin, the blood pulsed through Ken’s veins like rivers of fire. “Let her go!”
The weakness saturated his body but he fought it off. Now was not the time to succumb. But he couldn’t risk an attack. “Let her go!” he yelled again.
Rin continued to fight while she gagged for air. Each gag pierced his heart.
Ludovicus swiveled his head, sneering toward Ken. Quick as a flash, he raised Rin into the air and slammed her into the ground. Blood jumped out of her mouth and fell in a slashing motion on her cheeks.
The Druid's Spear (Ascent of the Gem Bearers Book 1) Page 25
