Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) (49 page)

“As long as I get there in one piece, it doesn’t really matter though,” he said aloud as his speed returned to normal.

Chapter 9

I wish something exciting would happen.

As the thought came to her, Katie shook her head. It was a stupid thought, really. Given that her previous bouts of excitement involved fighting a lich, assassinating the Count of Caldreth, wiping out a major assassins’ guild, and doling out justice to bandits that massacred a village, Katie knew better than anyone that she should not wish something exciting would happen.

Her thoughts came to a halt as someone opened the door and entered the room.

It was highly unusual for a guard to interrupt dinner, but the one that had just entered the room was looking at Vincent intently.

“Sir, the Knight of Kirakath and the Witch of Akabar are at the gates,” the guard said with a look of confusion in his eyes.

Alarm flashed in Katie’s eyes. A single look at Nicolas showed that he shared her feelings on the matter.

“Is anyone else with them?” Vincent asked with a frown. When the guard shook his head, he rose to his feet. “Bring them both here right now. Once you’ve seen to it that this is done, alert the rest of the guard. I want to be ready for anything.”

“Was that necessary?” Nicolas asked once the guard left.

“If they are both here and Caleb is not, then I am afraid that it is absolutely necessary,” Vincent replied grimly.

That was all that was spoken until both figures entered the room.

The moment that Katie saw Abigail, her eyes narrowed. The thought of Caleb spending any time around the woman before her bothered her. She was not sure why she felt that way, but that was not something that she had time to think about. Instead, she focused on the topic at hand.

“Sir Edmond, where is Caleb?” she asked in the demanding tone that she inherited from her family.

“Caleb is hunting,” Sir Edmond answered calmly.

“Isaac Abrams?” Nicolas asked in exasperation. “I can’t think of anyone else he’d be hunting.”

Katie looked alarmed at Nicolas’s words, and she was not the only one. Vincent looked as alarmed as anyone.

“What’s going on?” he asked in concern.

“I’ll make it short. Three days ago, Abigail cleansed the Blood of Kirakath. By doing so, she returned prophecy to the world. At that point, Fate decided to prove she’s a bitch and we learned that Caleb has the gift of prophecy. He had his second vision today. In that vision, he witnessed Isaac Abrams attack the village successfully. The vision took place on the night of a full moon, so Abigail and I came here as quickly as possible. Caleb, on the other hand, headed out to intercept them,” Sir Edmond answered.

“That wasn’t a bad summarization,” Abigail remarked.

“You let him do what?” Katie asked angrily. “Are you an idiot? Caleb is good, but he is reckless. Letting him go out and do something like that… that’s as moronic as you can get. For all we know, he could be dead.”

“I assure you that he is very much alive. If he were to die, I would know it immediately,” Sir Edmond said confidently. “I can sense him at all times. I have been able to ever since I was released from Draesa. That is how I know that he is on his way to Laus as we speak.”

“That doesn’t make what you did excusable,” Katie retorted. If anything, it seemed as though she was growing angrier as the conversation went on.

“I would have had to render him unconscious and carry him in order to do what you suggest,” Sir Edmond stated firmly. “When he is driven, there is no stopping him. He did what he wished to do. I cannot claim to understand why he did what he did, but the actions of a prophet rarely make sense to anyone but himself. Consider what he saw in his vision though. He watched as Vincent and his men were killed. Then, he saw you and Nicolas die. And after that, he watched the slaughter of every child, man, and elder of Laus. He is most fortunate to have missed what would have surely happened next. Can you guess why the women were spared? I’m sure you can.”

Katie looked aghast as she took in everything that Sir Edmond was saying. Nicolas did not look much better. Vincent, on the other hand, merely looked grim. As horrible as it was to hear, he already knew the realities of the island.

“So Caleb is a prophet, and prophecy has been returned to the world?” Nicolas asked after a moment of silence.

Katie looked surprised at Nicolas’s words, and the realization began to sink in. Her anger had prevented him from comprehending what Sir Edmond told them until that moment.

“Yes, that is correct. He witnessed his first vision the moment that prophecy was returned to the world. He saw Gabriel Silver fighting him in front of a city. I believe that it was Reinsae from Caleb’s description,” Sir Edmond answered with a nod. “Now, I believe it is prudent that we begin preparing for an attack. Make sure the sentries see who approaches before they shoot though. Caleb will reach us before Isaac and his men do.”

“I’ll alert my guards,” Vincent said as he made his way to the door. “Katie, Nicolas, you may want to prepare for the upcoming conflict as well. We are fortunate that your armor and weapons were finished yesterday.”

With that, he left the room.

“I will not be involved in the fighting unless they get into the town,” Abigail said once Vincent was gone. “Instead, I will use my abilities to tend to the injured. I am not skilled at fighting among others. If I were to assist in the fighting, it would be more than Isaac’s men that would be harmed.”

“I expected as much,” Sir Edmond remarked. “I will be at the forefront on the fighting. I am already dead, so I refuse to stand back and allow others to die.”

Abigail pursed her lips with a knowing look in her eyes.

“Let’s get ready,” Nicolas said to Katie with a grimace.

She nodded once before she made her way to her room to retrieve her weapons and armor.

* * * * *

“You do not wish for them to know then?” Abigail asked once Nicolas and Katie were gone.

Sir Edmond let out an audible sigh as he turned to the Witch of Akabar. “There is no point in worrying them. I knew from the moment Caleb spoke of his second vision that I would be unable to finish his training. Every day, the bond between my soul and this golem grows weaker. A single sustained battle when destroy the bond completely. It will place too much of a strain on it. I am accepting of that.”

“Can you not remain in the world as a spirit after the bond is broken?” she asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.

“As long as the Blood of Kirakath was tainted, I could not pass on. The bond is now the only thing keeping me here. You unknowingly broke the curse that was placed on me before I died,” Sir Edmond answered in a paradoxical tone. His voice held both happiness and sadness.

Abigail did not even react to that news. If anything, it appeared as though she was hearing something she already knew. “You are not bothered by the knowledge that he will be unable to finish his training and master the Blood of Kirakath?” she asked.

“I mastered it, and I did not have anyone to teach me,” Sir Edmond pointed out. “Caleb will master it regardless. With what he knows now, it should take him no more than six months to master the Blood of Kirakath to the same level that I achieved. That estimate assumes that I have no hand in teaching him anymore.”

“I hope you know what you are doing,” Abigail sighed. “If Caleb of Kirakath is the Last Son of Kirakath, he is far more important than we can even comprehend. Kyran spoke of him to my ancestors. He claimed that he would save the world from
the Age of Darkness
. I have no idea what he meant, but it was enough to make the Witches of Akabar look forward to his birth. There are few men that have been viewed in such a way by the coven.”

“Trust me. I understand what I am doing,” Sir Edmond said firmly. “Now, I would appreciate it if you waited here and brought Caleb’s friends to the front gates when they return. He will reach the gates soon.”

“So soon?” she asked in astonishment.

“It would seem that he has been using the Blood of Kirakath recklessly,” he answered in amusement.

“And what is so amusing about that?” she demanded unhappily.

“Perhaps it amuses me to see the hero that your coven has anticipated acting as a rash young man,” Sir Edmond countered as he made his way to the door. “Or perhaps it amuses me to see how similar he is to myself at a young age.”

Shaking his head, he left the manor silently.

* * * * *

“I need to see Vincent and the others,” Caleb said as he came to a stop in front of the gate of Laus. Noticing the way they gripped the hilts of their swords and the way the sentries firmly held their bows, he added, “I’m Caleb of Kirakath. My friends are guests here.”

Without the guards responding, the gates began to open. In fact, it seemed to be a surprise to them if their dumbfounded expressions were anything to go by.

On the other side of the gates, Sir Edmond stood attentive.

“You made good time,” he remarked.

“Thanks,” Caleb said as he sheepishly as he went through the gates. He released his hold on the Blood of Kirakath at that point. He felt his earlier exhaustion catch up to him the moment he stopped using it, but it was just the exhaustion from before he used it to enhance his stamina. With a little rest, he would be fine.

“What have I told you about overusing the Blood of Kirakath?” Sir Edmond asked him sternly. A hint of amusement could be heard in his voice though, ruining the stern attitude.

“That I should only do it when necessary,” Caleb answered with a grin. “I’m fine. I’m not strong enough to handle a sustained fight with it right now, but it’ll have to be enough. I’d say that Isaac has roughly seventy men. That’s after I killed thirty of them with my bow.” He gestured to his empty quiver when he finished speaking.

“It sounds as if you were busy,” Sir Edmond remarked speculatively.

“I think I could have taken them all down if I had enough arrows,” Caleb admitted. “They had no idea what to expect when I started shooting them from the forest.”

“Tell me everything you noticed about them. The more we know, the better prepared we will be,” Sir Edmond said.

Nodding, Caleb proceeded to explain everything in detail for Sir Edmond.

Once he finished, Sir Edmond left to speak to Vincent about what he had been told.

As Sir Edmond was leaving, Caleb noticed that Abigail, Nicolas, and Katie were there. Of the three, Katie was the one he found his attention focusing on.

Clad in black leather armor that hugged her curves with a gladius at each hip, Caleb could not help but note that she looked both beautiful and deadly. She had always been an attractive girl and had impressive combat skills, but it was the first time had ever seen her that she truly looked like a woman rather than a girl.

“I hear you did something reckless today,” she remarked as she looked at him sternly. “What in the Abyss do you think you were doing?”

“I was seeing who we were going to have to deal with, along with getting rid of thirty of them,” he answered, making eye contact with her. Neither one of them was willing to back down until they were interrupted.

“Let’s leave the past in the past,” Nicolas interjected. “It wasn’t the best idea he could have come up with, but we’ll need the advantage he gave us. Knowing him, he took out half of their forces.”

“Closer to a third but not quite there,” Caleb said, shaking his head.

“See, he did something that gives us a big advantage,” Nicolas said with an appreciative nod. “Hopefully, that will be enough to change the battle.”

Nicolas and Katie both glanced at Caleb, almost as if they expected him to have a vision at that moment.

“I guess they told you,” Caleb said dryly. “I can’t do it at will. But from what I saw, they lost four men to every one of ours. Sir Edmond and I weren’t here, and they had a hundred men while we had twenty. It should be enough to change how the battle goes, but people are still going to die.”

Katie reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder, seeing the expression on his face. His feelings on innocent men dying in defense of their home was as clear as day.

“That’s how battles go,” Nicolas sighed. “What’s important is that we can keep more people alive because decided to act.”

“He is correct,” Abigail agreed. “Do not think of the inevitable deaths. Instead, think about the way things could have gone. You could have dismissed what you saw as a hallucination or merely sent a message of warning. Instead, you brought your training to a halt, sent us here, and put yourself in harm’s way just to help the people of the town out.”

As she spoke, Caleb could not help but feel a little guilty. His initial reasons for helping had nothing to do with anyone that lived in Laus. It had everything to do with Katie and Nicolas. He was well aware that they would never have agreed to leave the town, so helping them had been necessary. It was only later on that the people of Laus became part of his motivation.

“How much of a difference do you think Sir Edmond will make?” he asked Abigail curiously, hoping to change the subject a little.