Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) (51 page)

“Do you have any other reasons for agreeing to come with us?” Caleb asked cautiously.

“Yes, I do,” she admitted reluctantly. “However, you are not ready to hear that reason at the moment. Once we are done, I will explain everything to you. What I have to say will be difficult to hear. Difficult and painful.”

Caleb stared at her for a long moment. He wanted to reject her offer unless she told him the truth. But he also knew that there was some truth in her words. Her assistance would be invaluable. “Fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “We’ll leave tomorrow at midday.”

“So soon?” Vincent asked in concern.

“We have to act fast. I’d leave tomorrow morning if we didn’t need the rest, but that’s something that we really need,” Caleb answered with a firm look in his eyes. He then glanced at the golem. “Any ideas on what we should do about that?”

“I will take care of it,” Abigail answered with a nod. “I would like to study it when there is time. With a golem that was created by Archmage Kyran, I may be able to learn something from it.”

“When there’s time,” Caleb agreed. From the looks of it, Vincent had been about to vehemently refuse her request.

“We should get some rest then,” Nicolas said, looking to Katie. “I get the feeling that we’re going to go for a long walk.”

Nods of agreement came from the three others that were to take part in the journey.

With that, Caleb, Katie, Nicolas, and Abigail made their way to Vincent’s manor to get some rest.

Amazingly, Vincent did not even try to argue anymore that night.

Chapter 11

Early the next morning, Caleb was nearly finished getting ready for the trip to Caer. His last order of business was to stock his quiver full of arrows. It was most fortunate that Vincent had given him permission to take all the arrows he would need from the armory. It would have been difficult to get all that he needed otherwise.

He quickly filled his quiver with three dozen arrows. It was a tight fit, but the quiver still accommodated them well enough.

“Raiding the armory, are we?” a familiar voice came from the door as he finished refilling his quiver.

With a start, Caleb spun around and looked at the speaker. Words failed him at once, and his eyes grew wide. It was a man with chestnut brown hair, forest green eyes, and a rough beard. Clad in brown leathers and a forest green cloak, he looked as he had the last time he saw him.

It was Hector Green, Caleb’s first mentor.

“It has been too long, Caleb,” he remarked with a small smile. “From the looks of things, I arrived just in time. I was afraid that you would be gone by the time I showed up.”

Caleb wanted to say so many things, but the words that escaped his mouth were not the words he had planned on speaking.“What are you doing here?”

“While you were assassinating a certain count, I was approaching Kirakath… or what used to be Kirakath. I immediately decided to visit my old friends Jason Edge and Eric White to find out what was going on. Can you imagine my surprise when I learned that Kirakath was massacred, you obtained the Sword of Kirakath, you slew the Black Crows, you brought an end to the Night Blades, and you killed the Count of Caldreth? Hearing that you had sought refuge here of all places was just as unexpected though.”

In that moment, Caleb was not sure what he wanted to say. He wanted to know how Hector had been since his disappearance, but his deeply ingrained habits of being polite and respectful to his mentor urged him to be patient. In the end, he decided to do just that.

“I don’t imagine you would have ever expected it,” Caleb remarked, shaking his head. “I didn’t expect to see you either. This is the last place I would have thought either of us would be, but things have changed.”

“Indeed,” Hector agreed with a grimace. “I’m sorry about what happened to Kirakath. If I had been there, things wouldn’t have happened like that.”

“It’s in the past, and you can’t change what happened,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “Kyran knows I thought about it enough. In the end, it just doesn’t matter.”

Hector let out a short, bitter laugh at that. “I understand what you mean well enough. You aren’t the only one to lose their family in a manner like that. That’s why I left. Before I came to Kirakath, I lost my village as well. I left because a lead was found, and I was finally given the chance to avenge them. I only wish that it had not taken so long.”

Caleb instantly saw that Hector did not wish to discuss the matter, so he changed the subject. “Do you want to hear about everything that’s happened since you left?”

He nodded eagerly, seeming to be pleased by the idea.

So Caleb began to tell his story as he led Hector out of the armory. He began with the time before Kirakath was massacred and moved on through his adventures. Hector seemed very interested at hearing about Caleb meeting Lance White, besting the griffin outside of Draesa, defeating Sir Edmond’s specter with the Sword of Kirakath, defeating the Black Crows, dealing with the Night Blades, sneaking into Castle Caldreth, helping to cleanse the Blood of Kirakath, and aiding in the defense of Laus.

What he seemed most interested in, however, was hearing about Caleb’s friendships, his struggles with the Blood of Kirakath, and him awakening his gift of prophecy.

It took nearly two hours to tell Hector everything, but it felt nice finally talking about everything to someone.

Once he finished telling Hector everything, his mentor clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“You have been through some very harrowing ordeals. I am not surprised to hear that you have triumphed though. The moment that I saw you, I knew that you were special. I thought part of it was the blood that you carried. Before I left Calia, I was part of the Order of Kyran, so I knew about the ties between Kyran and Kirakath. But what makes you special isn’t anything that you inherited. It’s the actions of a person that defines them, not their abilities.”

Caleb’s eyes fell to the ground as he took in what he was told.
What have I really done but bring about death? Only a few didn’t deserve it, but does that really make a difference?

“I had that look on my face the first time I really thought about all the lives I had ended,” Hector said as he stared at Caleb. “I want you to know something though. Sir Edmond, the Knight of Kirakath, became a hero in Arcadia because he took prophecy from the world and made it possible to rebel. He was made an even greater hero because he killed thousands of Calians. Not all of them were soldiers, either. Many only fought because they were forced to. The most revered man in the history of the known world, Archmage Kyran, is not any better either. He united a thousand nations into a single empire. Only a handful joined him peacefully. The rest suffered great casualties. Even after the actions of both of those men, they were seen as heroes by their people. I don’t know if what they did was right or wrong. What I do know is that the world would be a worse place if they did not do what they did.”

“I can see what you mean,” Caleb said with a brief smile. He saw the point that Hector made, but it did not comfort him as much as it would have at one time.

“Caleb, are you getting ready?”

Caleb looked up as Katie approached him. Her eyes flickered to Hector as she came within a dozen feet of him.

“I’m done already. I was just catching up with my old teacher. Katie, this is Hector Green,” Caleb said gesturing to him. “Hector, this is Katie. She’s one of my friends.”

“It is nice to meet you, Katie,” Hector greeted with a short bow.

Katie looked startled by the revelation of who Caleb had been talking to, though she quickly masked her features. “The same to you as well, Hector. I was not aware that you were coming here. Vincent mentioned that he received word from Eric about you, but he never said you would be coming to the island.”

That was not something that Caleb was happy to hear. No one had mentioned anything about Hector to him. Apparently, Katie picked up on the way he was looking at her.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I completely forgot about it with everything that’s been going on. Yesterday was the first time I had seen you since I found out,” Katie quickly explained with a hint of urgency in her voice.

“It is fine,” Caleb said with a shake of his head. “It doesn’t really matter. He’s here now, so no harm done.”

Katie did not even try to stop the relief from showing in her eyes. She looked to Hector before she spoke again. “Is he coming with us?”

Caleb looked surprised at the question, but he knew that it was not a bad idea. Cain Fell’s bandit camp, the Night Blades’ headquarters, and Castle Caldreth were much simpler to deal with than where they were going. Hector’s skills would be very beneficial in Caer.

“You’re going to Caer to deal with Isaac Abrams, are you not?” Hector asked curiously. He received a nod from Katie in response before he spoke again. “I would not mind accompanying you then. If he is not dealt with quickly, there will be trouble. It will save me the trouble of finding you once this is taken care of as well.”

Caleb looked at him curiously as he finished speaking, but he quickly dismissed the question from his mind. There was nothing odd about Hector wanting to make sure he could find him after they were done. “I’d appreciate it. We’ll be leaving in a little more than an hour. We’ll all be meeting at the front gates then.”

“Very well,” Hector said with a slight nod. “I look forward to seeing you use that bow of yours. I hope that you have not allowed your skills with it to digress.”

Caleb merely grinned in response.

* * * * *

It took three days for them to travel from Laus to Caer. Normally, the trip would have taken two days for Katie or Hector. Caleb could make it in a single day if he used the Blood of Kirakath.

Unfortunately, Nicolas and Abigail were not used to traveling long distances on foot. Traveling through the forests of Akabar and carefully avoiding being seen was difficult for both of them. Covering fifty miles in the process simply made it far more difficult.

But now, they were in the forest just east of Caer. They could finally deal with the last of the Abrams brothers. Once that was done, Caleb and his friends would be a great deal safer. It would also be a good start to changing how the island operated.

“How exactly are we going to do this?” Abigail asked curiously, looking at Caleb intently.

Hector was looking at his former apprentice as well, interest green in his forest green eyes.

Caleb smiled, almost amused that the question had gone unasked so far. “We’re going to wait until sunset. Then, we’re going to sneak in. You and Nicolas are going to wait here until we begin the attack. Once they’re distracted by us, you’ll come in and help us. The plan is to kill every single bandit in the place. If he’s anything like Victor Abrams was, Isaac won’t be able to make himself run away. There’s too much pride in him.”

“It’s a simple enough plan,” Hector remarked with an approving nod. “I would suggest that we do not stay together once we are in the town, however. It would be best if I work alone, you work with your friend, and your other friend work with the witch. Divided into small groups will prevent them from throwing the bulk of their forces at us at once.”

Caleb looked concerned for a moment, but he quickly took on a more neutral expression. As much as he hated the thought of his mentor working without anyone to help him, Caleb could not deny that the man had the skills to do it and come out alive.

“We’ll sneak it together. From there, we’ll split up. Hector should make his way to the west side of Caer while we stay in the east side. It’ll make it more difficult to deal with us,” Caleb agreed. A thought occurred to him at that point. “Abigail, can you turn us invisible?”

“If we stayed very close, I could,” Abigail admitted. “It would be very draining on me, however. It would be a much simpler matter to conjure a thick fog that extends from the forest to the eastern edge of town. They would most likely think nothing of it, and it would allow us go all at once.”

Hector nodded thoughtfully. “It is a good plan. The only question is whether to wait until sunset or to go earlier. Darkness would give us an advantage once there, but it would also make it easier for them to hide.”

“Maybe an hour before sunset,” Caleb said after a moment of thought. “If we need darkness, we’ll just need to hide once we’re there. If not, we can just act quickly.”

Katie and Nicolas nodded in agreement with the plan.

“Out of curiosity, what is that big building in the center of town?” Katie asked after a moment of silence.

Caleb looked through the trees at Caer and saw the building that she was referring to. It was at least twice as tall as any other building and was round.

“That is the Arena,” Abigail answered uncomfortably.

“There are three kinds of slaves on the island. The first are essentially unpaid servants. The second are generally women between the ages of sixteen and forty. I am sure you know what purpose they serve. And the last are the slaves that would cause problems if they were used as normal slaves. They are the ones that have skill at arms. They have the shortest life expectancy. In short, they fight to the death as a means of entertainment. I have heard that Isaac Abrams is fond of watching his slaves kill each other.”