Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) (27 page)

“That’s where you’d be wrong,” Ed said, actually a little amused. “The leader of the Night Blades is Victor Abrams, Alexander’s brother. In addition to that, they have a single assassin who could systematically assassinate the king, the high general, and every other person in a seat of authority without ever being caught. By the time anyone realized that he was behind it, there would not be anyone left alive who gave a rat’s ass.”

Nicolas was not sure what to be more unnerved about at that moment. The knowledge that his boss had a brother who was in charge of the world’s most elite assassins’ guild was far more unnerving than one might have expected. The possibility of an assassin being as skilled as Ed claimed was also unnerving for obvious reasons.

“And it seems that your friend is screwed,” Ed said as he finished looking over the scimitar. “Victor Abrams has every weapon that his men use branded with the insignia of the Night Blades. This scimitar bears that mark.”

Nicolas groaned at hearing that news. In all honesty, he was not that surprised though. It seemed that Caleb had the worst luck of anyone that he had ever met.

“Do you have any advice?” Nicolas asked as he took the scimitar back from Ed and sheathed it in the scabbard at his hip.

“Sure,” Ed said. “Tell your buddy to run as fast as he can. He might be safe in Tiberia.”

“Thanks anyways,” Nicolas said, knowing that the advice was useless. He had gained the information that he sought, and he knew exactly what Caleb would do with it. “Be careful until we meet again.”

“The same to you,” Ed replied as Nicolas made his way out of the room.

* * * * *

As Nicolas was obtaining the information on the assassins that had attacked the night before, Caleb was standing behind the Black Raven Inn with his long bow in his left hand and his quiver slung across his back. Half a dozen targets were set up about twenty-five yards away from him.

In a single fluid motion, Caleb drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it. He drew the bow back, the brown feathers of the arrow touching his cheek.

He held his breath, his entire body becoming steady. Even if it only lasted a moment, that was all he needed.

Caleb released the bow string, sending the arrow flying at the target to his far left. It struck the bull’s eye of the target as though a force of nature drew it there. The arrow could not have hit the target any more perfectly than it did that moment.

Exhaling, he lowered his bow. As much as he enjoyed being able to make such a precise shot, it was not practical to take too much time on a single shot. The simple truth of the matter was that he was no longer a hunter. He had become a warrior, whether he wished to admit it or not. He did not practice to hit a deer. He practiced so that he could kill people.

He frowned as he realized where his train of thought had led him too.
I’m a warrior. All this time, I’ve been fighting what I am. I guess I just didn’t want to give up what I used to be. I was Hector’s apprentice, I was Gabriel’s best friend, and I was my parents’ son.

At the last thought, he shook his head.
I might not be Hector’s apprentice any longer and I might have changed too much to be Gabriel’s best friend anymore, but I’m still the son of Michael and Sophie Sullivan. They might be dead, but that doesn’t mean anything. I was born because of them, and they made me into who I am today. Father is the whole reason I sought the Sword of Kirakath, after all.

His attention turned to the five remaining targets suddenly, and a serene feeling enveloped him.

He raised the bow and nocked an arrow quickly before he drew the bow back. As soon as the feathers touched his cheek, he released the bowstring, sending the arrow flying at the second target. It struck the dead center of the bull’s eye, but his attention had left the target immediately after the arrow left the bow.

A second arrow was drawn back as the sound of the first one hitting the large, round, wooden target filled the area. He released it immediately, the arrow striking the third target dead center in the bull’s eye.

Three more arrows followed that, each fired with amazing speed and accuracy.

By the end of it, all six targets had an arrow in the center of their bull’s eyes.

Clapping suddenly rang through the area, turning Caleb’s attention to behind him, where a man that looked like an older version of Nicolas was standing. He was wearing all blue clothing and had a goatee, making him look distinctively different from Nicolas.

“You’re an incredible archer. I don’t suppose you’re looking for a job, are you? I’m sure I could get Count Clovis to accept you as one of his soldiers.”

“Do I know you?” Caleb asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I apologize,” the man said with a kind smile. “I’m Jason Edge. Nicolas is my nephew, and I am the magistrate of Caldreth. I was sincere in my offer just now.”

“Nicolas didn’t tell me his uncle was so important,” Caleb commented, ignoring the part about the job offer. “Sorry if I sounded rude. You just surprised me. I had no idea anyone else would be coming by until Nicolas came back.”

“It’s fine. I noticed that he wasn’t inside. When I heard noises coming from behind the inn, I thought maybe I’d find him back here,” Jason said, shaking his head dismissively. “If I may ask, where is he?”

“He had to go to Caldreth to take care of some business,” Caleb said, knowing better than to give anyone too much information without Nicolas around. “He’ll be back before too long.”

Jason sighed at that. “He’s not accepting a job from Alexander, is he?”

Caleb looked genuinely confused at that. “Who is Alexander?”

“Alexander is the leader of the Thieves’ Guild,” Jason answered, looking a little surprised. “I thought you would know more about him. You’re clearly a friend of Nicolas. He doesn’t let anyone stay around the inn when he’s away, after all.”

“Nicolas and I are friends, but I’m not in the same line of business that he’s in,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “My name is Caleb of Kirakath.”

That nearly made Jason’s jaw drop. “You’re
the
Caleb of Kirakath? I’ve heard stories of you. They say you’ve killed hundreds of men just with your sword.”

Jason’s words actually made Caleb laugh quite a bit. “I assure you that I am the only Caleb of Kirakath, but I haven’t killed hundreds of men. I’ve only killed forty people, and not all of them died by my sword.”

Jason looked surprised at Caleb’s statement. “I expected that it was exaggerated a bit, but I never thought you had actually killed as many men as you have. I doubt that there’s a single man in the King’s Army that has killed as many people as you have.”

“I doubt anyone in the King’s Army has fought a griffin or a specter either,” Caleb remarked. “But even more than any of that, I doubt that anyone in the King’s Army has had their family and village massacred either. Well… I doubt anyone outside of my former best friend has had that happen, at least.”

Jason frowned at Caleb’s words. Resentment was clear in them.

“Do you have something against the King’s Army?” he asked.

“I have something against the King’s Army and Caldreth’s Army,” Caleb said evenly. “My problem with them is that my village was massacred, and they did not do anything about it. They did not raise a hand to do anything at all. They never even acknowledged that they messed up.”

“How did they mess up, as you so eloquently put it?” Jason asked.

“How can a hundred bandits band together, travel by the road, and massacre a village a day’s ride from here without them messing up?” Caleb asked. “Forget what I said. They didn’t mess up. They just didn’t care because it did not affect them directly. I guess as long as your count can have his servants feed him grapes and wine in peace, he doesn’t care what happens.”

“That’s out of line,” Jason said, surprised by Caleb’s words. “Yes, something should have been done in response to the massacre, but you dealt with the matter long before anyone could have been mobilized.”

“I guess that just goes to show you had inefficient and slow the armies are,” Caleb retorted. “It should have only taken a day or two to send a force of twenty or so men out to deal with them. A trained soldier with chainmail and a quality weapon can easily take on several bandits. A small force could have done what needed to be done. Instead, your leader abandoned his responsibility to the nearby villages in the land and left me to do the job myself.”

“I can understand your anger,” Jason said quietly. “I will not try to change your mind. I just ask that you think about it from a different perspective. What would you have done if you were in milord’s position?”

Caleb looked away. He wanted to say that he would have hunted them down, but he knew that he could not say that. The truth of the matter was that he had only found the Black Crows because of Nicolas. If he had been the count, he would never have been able to ask someone like Nicolas for help.

Finally, he gave his answer.

“I would have done what needed to be done.”

“Good answer,” Jason said as he turned away. “Tell Nicolas that I stopped by. I won’t mention this conversation to him or Count Clovis, so don’t worry about anything. In the meantime, I wish you luck. I can tell one thing about you from a single glance: trouble follows you.”

With that, Jason left and Caleb returned to his archery practice.

The whole time, Caleb thought over what he had been told by Jason.

Chapter 6

Caleb sighed as he sat at one of the tables in the Black Raven Inn. He had come in after about an hour after he spoke with Jason Edge, and his right arm was a little sore from practicing with his bow. He had not taken the time to do much shooting lately, outside of when he hunted for food at least.

His confrontation with Jason was still playing over and over in his head. Even though he felt bad about speaking the way he did to the uncle of his best friend, he did not regret what he had said.

That thought stopped him in his tracks.
Did I just think of Nicolas as my best friend?

A frown made its way to his face when he thought of Gabriel Silver, the person who he had always considered to be his best friend. In all honesty, he could not consider Gabriel to be his best friend any longer though.

Caleb had changed a great deal with the Massacre of Kirakath, but it was not the changes he had undergone that had changed his view of his oldest friend. No, the problem was that he felt Gabriel that had turned his back on him. Had they been in each other’s shoes, Caleb knew that he would have found a way to leave the King’s Army to help bring the Black Crows to justice.

I don’t think I can forgive him for abandoning us. I know it’s selfish, but I had to shoulder the burden of revenge alone because of him. It’s just not fair.

He shook his head away from such thoughts, knowing that it was pointless to dwell on the past.

Still, he had to admit that it was easy to understand why he would consider Nicolas his best friend. Nicolas had been there for him in the past and had done things for him because he wanted to, not because he owed him a debt like Katie had.

Caleb’s attention turned to the long bow that was setting on the table in front of him. Though he was done using it for the day, he could not just leave it as it was. In order to make a bowstring last longer, it was common practice to unstring the bow after using it. It was a fact that he had forgotten once before, and he had lost his best bowstring because of it. Now, he had a bowstring with quality that could only be described as decent at best. Still, it was better quality than what he could find in any shop in Caldreth, so he had no intention of letting it wear out faster than normal.

There was also the fact that he was out of money to consider. He had given all of his money up as a penance in Greenville, so he could not exactly rely on coin to fix any problems that he had.

The process of unstringing the bow only took a few moments. It seemed like he had more experience stringing and unstringing a bow than he did at shooting one, though it was not quite true.

After he had the bow unstrung, he rolled the string up and put it in a hidden pocket of the quiver lying next to it.

“Hey Caleb, I’m back,” Nicolas said as he opened the door to the tavern. “I managed to get all the information you needed in record time.”

Caleb looked excited at that, but he quickly felt a sense of unease filling him.

In retrospect, he had no reason to be particularly happy that Nicolas had learned who was after him. After all, they were a group of assassins.

Nicolas walked over and sat across the table from Caleb before he began to speak again. “The ones that are after you are called the Night Blades. They operate out of Umbridge, and have been around for over five hundred years. To make matters worse, they have a reputation for being the best of the best. My contact advised me to warn you to get out of the country as quickly as you can, but we both know that you won’t do that, so I won’t suggest it.”

“Smart,” Caleb remarked, still taking in the information that he had just heard.

“The Night Blades are led by a man named Victor Abrams. He is the brother of the leader of the Thieves’ Guild of Caldreth, and he is considered to be one of the greatest assassins alive. But there’s more. I know enough about him to know that’s he’s also a master swordsmen. Even with your sword’s magic, you will be hard pressed to defeat him in single combat,” Nicolas explained. “But you’re going to be fighting against the entire Night Blades organization. You’ve taken out around twenty, so there are still around eighty of them left. Seventy-nine men will be between you and Victor. In other words, you’ll be exhausted by the time you reach him, unless he decides to fight you before you can attempt to take out his men.”