Through the Flames (15 page)

Shock filled Caleb’s expression at those words. He had not expected to hear such a thing.

“I never said that you had to beat me. I said that you had to fight me,” Lance added as he walked to the door. “I’m sure you’ll be bored, but I’m going to have to ask you to stay in this room. The third test will be tomorrow, and I have to prepare for it. I’ll get you a bedroll and some food shortly.”

With those words, Caleb was left alone once again.

As he did the previous day, Caleb welcomed the isolation.

“You’re finally here, I see,” Caleb said as he began to rise to his feet.

As the door to the room that he had been in for the past day slowly opened, Caleb made his way to his bedroll in the corner of the room. It was rolled up, but the bedroll itself was not his focus at that moment. He kept the sword that Lance had given him, along with his knife, right next to it.

By the time the door was completely open, Caleb had the sword and knife attached to his belt.

“You’re already ready, I see,” Lance said with a sly smile.

“I am,” Caleb agreed as his muscles tensed. Thoughts of what the third and final test would consist of fluttered to his mind.

“Good luck then,” Lance said as he took a step back and to the left.

With Lance out of sight, Caleb saw one of the last things that he could have expected. A statue that appeared to be made of marble was standing right behind where Lance had stood. The statue was finely made, looking like a man through and through.

Why did he wish me luck?
It did not make any sense to Caleb.

Brushing that thought away, he looked at the statue a bit more carefully. In addition to looking like a six-foot tall man made of marble, it had been made to look as though it wore a tunic, trousers, and a pair of boots.

“That’s a nice statue,” Caleb commented with a puzzled expression upon his face. “But what’s the point of this? A statue can’t test me.”

It was with widened eyes that Caleb saw that he was wrong. The statue moved to a crouching position and dashed towards him, moving as easily as a man.

As soon as the statue walked entered the room, Lance stepped back in front of the doorway.

Caleb had no doubt that the statue would destroy him if he did not move out of the way. Leaping to his right, out of the way of the strange foe, was not exactly easy. It seemed to run faster than the bear that had tried to attack him several days ago.

Still, he hit the ground and rolled away from it just before it reached him. It gave him the perfect view of the statue punching into the wall behind where he had stood.

His hand… it went straight through the wall,
Caleb thought as the statue’s fist punched a hole into the wall. The sound of shattering stone was unlike anything Caleb had ever heard.

As the statue turned to look at Caleb, he heard Lance start to speak. He never turned his eyes from the unnatural foe though.

“My friend here is a golem. He… well, I suppose
it
is the proper word… is a living construct of magic and stone. Just to make this clear to you, a golem of this size can move as fast as a human, hit as hard as stone, and will never tire. You can destroy it, I suppose.” Lance said as he leaned against the doorway. “Anyways, your test is simple. You need to defeat my friend.”

I’m going to kill him one of these days,
he thought as he stood up and drew the sword from his hip.
I’m getting sick and tired of all this magic.

Seeing Caleb’s sword drawn, the golem dashed towards Caleb again with its fist back.

Exhaling deeply, Caleb jumped out of the way moments before it reached him again. Safely out of the way, he brought his sword down in quick arc that he put all of his weight behind. The timing was perfect, and it hit the golem easily.

The instant that the sword struck the golem’s shoulder, Caleb felt an alarming amount of strain on the blade. It only lasted for a moment though. A sharp echo resounded through the room as the blade of the sword snapped in half.

That’s not good,
Caleb thought as he looked at the broken sword. It was the last thing that he had expected.

Before he could process the situation completely, the golem grabbed him by the tunic, spun around, and released him. The actions sent him sliding across the ground until he slammed into the wall across from where he had been.

“You’re not going to stand a chance if you just take it,” Lance said with barely hidden amusement.

“Screw you,” Caleb muttered as he sat in an upright position.

Before he could stand, the golem had reached him and grabbed him by the tunic again. With incredibly ease, it lifted him with a single hand and slammed him into the wall. A wince was heard from him as he made contact with the stone wall. And then, the golem began to repeat its actions.

By the fifth time that Caleb was slammed into the wall, even Lance was wincing, though it did not seem to have any intentions of stopping.

I need to stop this,
Caleb thought as he tried to push the pain to the back of his mind.

It was at that moment that pain of another kind filled him.

Pain similar to having fire fill his veins consumed Caleb as he let out a silent scream.

When he hit the wall that time, he did not even feel it. Instead, he seemed to welcome it.

Through pained but determined eyes, Caleb stared at the golem. Seeing it begin to pull him away from the wall again, he kicked out with both feet. Instead of hurting himself like he had almost expected, he managed to force it to drop him and stagger backwards.

Finally free, Caleb landed in a crouch and dashed towards the golem at full speed. As he closed the distance, he leapt towards it and tackled it to the ground. As his shoulder made contact with its stone midsection, more pain gripped him. He did not allow it to control him though.

“Catch,” Lance suddenly said.

Caleb barely looked up to see that a hammer with a handle as long as his arm had been tossed towards him. With exceptional ease, he caught it with one hand.

In a single fluid motion, Caleb brought the hammer down on the golem’s center, sending spider web-like cracks through its torso. He repeated the motion three times before he gripped the hammer in two hands.

Taking in the damage that he had done it thus far, Caleb took a breath and raised the hammer as high as he could. He then brought the hammer down with all of his strength.

With a single strike to the golem’s chest, it completely shattered.

Caleb immediately dropped the hammer and fell to his knees afterword, breathing harder than he had ever before.

“So it’s true,” Lance said quietly. “You truly are a Son of Kirakath.”

“What are you going on about now?” Caleb asked between breaths. “I told you that I was from Kirakath back when we first met.”

“There’s much more to it,” Lance said with a small smile. “Congratulations on passing the third test. I believe that it is now time to give you the answers that you have sought.”

Caleb gulped nervously as Lance reached for the sword at his hip.

Shock filled him as Lance detached it from his belt and tossed it towards him. He was only barely able to catch it, his hands aching as they did. Using the hammer on the golem had left them sore.

“You are definitely worth to wield that sword now,” Lance said as he walked towards Caleb and held out his hand. “I’m sorry for putting you through so much.”

Without looking up at the older boy, Caleb took his hand and rose to his feet. “There’s nothing to forgive. Sure, I’m still pissed that you put me in a cage, beat me around with your incredible swordsman skills, and sent your pet to attack me, but you don’t seem to be the type to do anything without a good reason.”

Breaking contact, Lance put his hand to his head and exhaled deeply. “I suppose you deserve to know my reasons.”

That would be nice,
Caleb thought sarcastically.

“The Sword of Kirakath was put to rest in the ancient ruins of Draesa. To get it, you’ll have to travel to the Skyfell Mountains, and that’s just the beginning of the journey,” Lance said, earning a surprised but worried look from Caleb. “As if that isn’t dangerous enough, you have to make your way to the entrance of the ancient city of Draesa, make your way through the ruined city to the castle, and find the throne room. In the throne room, you’ll find a specter of the past, along with the Sword of Kirakath.”

Caleb took a few deep breaths as he contemplated that information. It did not sound nearly as simple as he had expected originally.

“What do you mean when you say
a specter of the past
?” Caleb asked.

Lance turned his back to Caleb at the question. “Look, there are things that I can’t tell you. My family has kept secrets for the last five hundred years. I’m not at liberty to speak of them, even to you.”

Whatever Lance expected, he did not receive with Caleb’s next words.

“Fair enough,” he said as he attached his sword to his belt, happy to have it back.

“You’re not even going to pry?” Lance asked in surprise.

“You already told me that you couldn’t tell me,” Caleb said with a shrug. “Why should I try to get you to tell me? It would be pretty pointless.”

Though he could accept that, there was something that Lance was having trouble accepting. “How is it that you’re not even going to try to hit me?” he asked as he turned to face Caleb again. “I knocked you out and trapped you in a cage? How can you so easily dismiss that? I don’t think I could do the same if I was in your shoes.”

Caleb looked Lance in the eyes and revealed a grim smile. “Why would I be upset? A few days trapped underground… it’s a small price for the location of the Sword of Kirakath. Did I tell you that my father asked me to get the Sword of Kirakath and avenge the deaths of those who died in Kirakath?”

Lance’s throat went dry at those words, along with the look in the Son of Kirakath’s eyes. He had never seen such a mixture of lifelessness and determination in a man before. It was one of the most unnerving things that he had ever seen.

“You’re not like any man I’ve ever seen before,” Lance said a few minutes later.

“I’ve heard that before,” Caleb said as he steadied his breath. The fight with the golem had taken more out of him than he thought. “I don’t understand why everyone is so willing to call me a man already though. I’m only sixteen.”

Darkness could be seen behind Lance’s eyes at those words. It was not too difficult to figure out that it was a result of the realization that a sixteen year old boy had gone through so much already.

“So how do I get out of here? Katie’s probably wondering where I am by now,” Caleb asked, looking around the room. As an afterthought, he added, “Our inn is outside of the city walls.”

Breaking from his thoughts, Lance turned his back to Caleb and walked to the doorway. Once there, he glanced over his shoulder and said, “Follow me. There’s a secret path that will bring you right outside of the city gates.”

Without a word, Caleb followed Lance, eager to be free from the underground tunnels that they were in. He had gone too many days without seeing the sun.

Lance seemed to be able to predict Caleb’s thoughts if his next words were any indication.

“We’ll be walking for a few hours, so don’t expect to see the sun for too long,” Lance said as he continued to walk. “Being underground can play tricks on the mind. You might not realize it, but you’ve been down here for three days, and it’s already after noon. Without the sun to guide you, it’s easy to wake up late and to go to sleep even later.”

At that moment, Caleb decided that he did not care how Lance figured out what he was thinking. The older boy was too hard to understand, even without that under consideration.

* * * * *

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Lance said as he held back a mass of vines that obscured the exit of the tunnels.