Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) (14 page)

“You realize that she won’t let you leave tonight, right?” Lance said, making Caleb pause. “I learned a bit about your companion. She seems to be a girl of character, despite her job. I doubt that she’ll let you leave so soon. After all, you’ve been beaten thoroughly and need some rest.”

“I know,” Caleb said as he continued to walk away. “That’s exactly why I’m in a hurry. The sooner I can get to the inn, the sooner I can get some rest. I’m exhausted.”

“And now he’s sensible,” Lance muttered as Caleb walked away.

The words brought a smile to Caleb’s face, though it was more out of an attempt not to laugh than out of happiness.

* * * * *

“It’s been three days,” Katie said as her face dropped to her open hands. “No one’s seen him, not even your uncle.”

Nicolas nodded his head sadly as he looked across the table at her. She had been tearing herself up over her inability to find her companion, and he had been no help in the search.

“We will find him,” Nicolas promised.

As soon as those words were spoken, the door of the tavern swung open. Before either could react, they heard a voice that they had not expected.

“Find who?”

Nicolas and Katie spun around immediately, widening their eyes as they saw Caleb standing at the doorway. His clothes appeared to have gotten a bit dusty since they last saw him. He also appeared to be exhausted, if the look in his eyes said anything.

“Caleb!” Katie exclaimed as she stood up so fast that her chair fell over. She ran towards him and did the last thing that he could have expected. She tackled him in a hug that nearly knocked him over.

With a look of confusion upon his face, he hugged her back briefly.

A slight look of mortification crossed her face as she realized what she had done. She quickly broke the contact and cleared her throat. With a stern look, she asked, “Where have you been? You’ve been missing for three days.”

“Sorry about that,” Caleb said, yawning once the words were out. “I had to do a few tests before they’d tell me where the Sword of Kirakath is.”

“What’s the Sword of Kirakath?” Nicolas suddenly asked.

Caleb glanced at him, slightly surprised to see the young man. He had almost forgotten that Nicolas was even in the room until that moment.

“The Sword of Kirakath is a sword of great power,” Caleb said simply. “I don’t know anything beyond that.”

“Then why are you searching for it?” Nicolas asked, sincerely curious. “If you don’t know what it does, then why do you even bother with it?”

“You don’t have to answer that,” Katie said immediately, glaring at Nicolas.

Though she had not asked about the Sword of Kirakath before, she still remembered the first words he had ever spoken to her of his quest.

“Before my father died, he made two requests of me. The first was to find the Sword of Kirakath, and the second was to bring the men that razed Kirakath to justice.”

There was no way that the subject at hand could be anything but sensitive.

“It’s okay,” Caleb said, breaking Katie from her thoughts. Looking at Nicolas, he said, “My father asked me to do it before he died. Who am I to deny a man’s last request?”

Nicolas looked uncomfortable at those words. It was clear that he had not expected it to be anything quite like that.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go take a bath. I’ve been underground for three days,” Caleb said as he took a step and headed towards the actual inn part of the building.

With Caleb gone and the door shut, Katie looked at Nicolas.

“There’s a great deal that he’s not telling us, isn’t there?” she asked with a heavy sigh. She did not like to be left out of the loop.

“Of course,” Nicolas replied with a slight inclination of his head. “There’s a great deal that you’re not telling him either. How would he react if he knew exactly who you are?”

“He wouldn’t care,” Katie said stiffly. “Caleb isn’t like that.”

“Perhaps,” Nicolas said with an unreadable look upon his face. “But regardless, you need to start thinking about where you’ll go from here. Now that he knows where to find that sword of his, you two will have to leave.”

“I’ll figure it out in the morning. He didn’t tell us where it is, after all,” Katie replied.

With that, they retired for the night.

Chapter 16

“It’s time,” Caleb said as he stood in his room in the early morning. He could not help but feel like a new man. After being trapped underground for three days and sleeping on a stone floor, a good night’s rest and being clean made him feel much better.

Turning, he made his way to the door. He was surprised to see Katie leaning against the wall in front of his door when he pulled it open. Her eyes were trained on him.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, making eye contact with her. Though it seemed that her sharp eyes could see straight into his soul, he did not even flinch.

“Caleb, what happened to you?” Katie asked quietly, breaking eye contact. “I don’t like what’s happening to you. Why do you have to keep shutting yourself down?”

“What are you talking about?” Caleb asked, sincerely confused. “How am I shutting myself down?”

“You keep suppressing your emotions,” Katie answered immediately. “I can understand putting reason before emotion, but you’re not doing that at all. You’re denying that you even have emotions. I can see it, and you could too if you weren’t blinding yourself.”

Caleb looked away from her at that. “I’m not denying that I have emotions. They’re just not that important.”

“They make you human,” Katie said sharply, making her companion wince.

I told Lance the same thing,
he thought as the memories of his second test came flashing back.
I hate to admit it, but she’s right. I can’t keep this up.

“We’ll talk about this more later,” Caleb said, clearing his throat. “We need to talk about where we’re going from here first.”

“Agreed,” Katie said with narrowed eyes.

“We need to head to the ruins of a city called Draesa. It’s located in the Skyfell Mountains… somewhere,” Caleb said as he looked at her seriously. “I was too tired yesterday, so I didn’t think to ask for the exact location of Draesa.”

“I know where it is,” Katie said immediately. “Draesa is something of an open secret. Its location is well-known, but no one goes there. Draesa has been in ruins for something like seven hundred years, so it’s not as if there is any loot to be gained.”

“The Sword of Kirakath is there,” Caleb said with a small amount of satisfaction. “It’s in the throne room.”

“Are you sure?” Katie asked, her mind processing the implications of it.

“Lance was sure,” Caleb said, only realizing that it was the first time he said the name to them after the words were out. “His family has safeguarded the secret of its location for five hundred years, and there was no hint of doubt in his words. It’s there.”

Katie pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Draesa isn’t a short ways away, and we’ll be in danger once we get close. They say that the Skyfell Mountains are home to a large number of creatures that would like nothing more than to pick the flesh from our bones.”

“Beautiful imagery,” Caleb remarked sarcastically. “You don’t know the full extent of the danger that the Skyfell Mountains pose though. My mentor spent an entire year in them. The stories he told me were bone chilling, to say the least.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Katie asked rhetorically, though she half expected him to answer.

He did not.

“We’re going to need horses,” Katie said a few minutes later when she realized that he was not going to say anything further. “We still have forty crowns, so we’ll be able to get a pair easily.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Caleb asked as his left hand rested on the pommel of his sword and he slightly leaned forward.

“We need to tell Nicolas first,” Katie said as she raised a hand. “There’s no telling how long we’ll be gone, after all.”

Caleb nodded his head in understanding. Though the prospect had not crossed his mind, he could not deny its validity. “Let’s go tell him then.”

“Impatient, are we?” Katie asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Yes, I am,” Caleb agreed without hesitation. “It’s been about a week since my parents were murdered and my home destroyed, and the bastards that did it are still alive. The quicker we are about this, the sooner they die.”

“You realize that we’re unlikely to get the sword and track them down in less than two weeks right? Come to think of it, three weeks might be pushing it,” Katie asked, her eyes locking with Caleb’s.

Anger flared behind Caleb’s sapphire eyes at those words. “If it takes that long, then so be it. It won’t be a result of me not trying though.”

Katie smiled at those words. “Glad to see that you can still feel something.”

With those words spoken, she turned and headed down the hall. Glancing over her shoulder, she asked, “Coming?”

“Do you need to ask?” Caleb muttered as he followed after her.

He barely heard her say, “Sometimes I wonder.”

Until they reached the tavern part of the inn, they did not speak another word.

However, upon seeing Nicolas behind the bar, Caleb asked, “Why are you always back there? You never have anyone here, but you’re always behind the bar. It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Ah, but you’re failing to take everything into consideration,” Nicolas said with a sly grin. “I like to drink.”

Caleb stared at him blankly at those words. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

“It probably is,” Katie answered for him, walking towards her friend. “Nicolas, we need to get a move on. We’ll probably be back in a week or so.”

“Understood,” Nicolas said with a small nod. “When you get back, do you plan on hunting down the bandits that bear the mark of two crows pinned together by an arrow?”

“Yes,” Caleb answered without a hint of hesitation. That was to be expected by anyone that had known him for more than an hour though.

“I’ll see you then,” Nicolas said with a grin. “I recommend stopping by my stables first though. When Caleb showed up last night, I had two horses brought from the city’s stables. I figured you’d want to leave pretty quickly.”

“You’re a life saver,” Caleb said with a small smile. “I knew we could count on you.”

“That’s enough with the flattery,” Nicolas said with a serious expression upon his face. “Katie paid me five crowns the first night that you guys were here. Even with the new clothes, the horses, and the tack, you’ve only used up three of the crowns. As I see it, I still owe you.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Caleb said, his expression not changing at all as he heard the admission. “You’re a business man. You’ve made that clear, so what does it matter if we give you money? It doesn’t change your actual reasons for doing this.”

“And why do I do this?” Nicolas asked, curious as to what Caleb truly thought.

“You do this because Katie is your friend, and she wants to help me because I saved her life,” Caleb said matter-of-factly. “There’s also the fact that you think I’m a better friend than enemy.”

“You’re perceptive,” Nicolas complimented. “Now get a move on. I have some things I need to do. After all, I can’t exactly meet with my clients while you two are around.”

With a small laugh, Caleb walked back through the door and made his way to the stables towards the back of the inn. He still remembered where Katie had said that they were.

It only took a minute to reach the stables, and Caleb immediately saw that there were four stalls. Only one of them was empty. In the first stall, there was a solid white horse. In the second, there was a black and white paint. In the third, there was a dark brown horse with a thick white blaze upon its face.

“You can take the paint,” Katie mused. “They’re stubborn and rough. I’m sure you’ll be able to relate.”

“Whatever you say,” Caleb said as he walked over to one of the saddles that had been hung from the wall perpendicular to the stalls. “Now, would you be so kind as to show me how to put this thing on a horse. I’ve never had a horse before.”

Katie shot him a look of disbelief before she remembered that he was from a small village.

“Come on, I’ll show you,” she said as she walked over to the stall. “You do know how to ride one though, right?”

“Yeah, my best friend taught me,” Caleb said, looking away from her.

I wish you were here, Gabriel,
he thought before he carried the saddle over to the stall to begin his lesson.

Chapter 17

We’re making progress,
Caleb thought as the sound of rushing water became clearer and louder. They had left the inn the morning before, and unless they had taken the wrong path, the Skyfell River was just up ahead.

I wish we were there already though,
he thought, slightly shaking his head. He knew that they were using the quickest route, despite the fact that it took them a pretty good distance out of the way. After all, they could not cross the Skyfell River without using the only bridge north of where the Caer River branched off.