Through the Flames (13 page)

The first thing that Caleb became aware of was the sound of dripping water.

His eyes snapped open as his memory came flooding back to him. The last thing that he could remember was a sharp pain at the back of his head before he faded from consciousness.

“What in the abyss is going on?” he asked quietly as his hand went to the back of his head. He could not feel any blood, dried or fresh.

With the knowledge that he was not bleeding, he looked around him. Alarm filled him once again. He was in a cage that appeared to be a perfect square. From the looks of it, it was about twice as tall as he was.

That was not the only thing that had him alarmed though. The room that he was in was not so much a room as a large chamber. He immediately noted that no natural light seemed to be present in the room. Instead, it was solely by oil lamps.

His eyes darted around the chamber, looking for a possible escape route. Unfortunately, it seemed that the chamber was of simplistic design with stone walls and a single set of doors. Outside of the cage and the oil lamps that were situated along the walls, there was nothing inside of the chamber.

A sharp creaking noise suddenly brought his eyes back to the set of large wooden doors as they opened. As the doors opened, a young man with short golden blond hair that was clad in a black hooded cloak entered. It was only when he was about twenty feet away from the cage that Caleb saw his eyes. His left eye was bright green while his right eye was bright blue. It was the strangest thing that he had ever seen.

“So, I take it that you are from Kirakath?” the young man asked as he raised a sheathed sword in his left hand that Caleb had not noticed until then.

Caleb’s voice grew dry as he recognized that the sword in the young man’s hand was his sword.

Why do people keep taking my sword?

Needless to say, he was pretty angry at the continued occurrence.

“By the look in your eyes, I’ll take that as a yes,” the man said as he lowered the sword to his side. “I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Lance White, and I am the one who you were looking for.”

“You know where the Sword of Kirakath is?” Caleb asked immediately as he stood up.

“Yes, I do,” Lance said with a small smile. “I can’t tell you where it is though. It is not something you can be given on the simple bases of ancestry.”

There has to be obstacles,
Caleb thought in annoyance. He was getting sick and tired of all the obstacles that were constantly being erected in his path.

“I guess I’ll have to earn it then,” he said with a deep breath. “But first, I want to know what’s going on. I don’t know how you found me… or where I even am.”

Lance chuckled at that. “I’d be glad to answer your questions. After all, we have time,” he said as he looked at the sword in his hand. “To your first question, the sword that you were carrying is actually a sword of magic, though I doubt you realized that. Its magic is just a simple spell to preserve the blade as it was when it was created. Thus, it cannot be broken or made dull without the spell being undone. I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t explain how I found you though, right?”

Caleb nodded vigorously at that, storing the important bits of information in the back of his mind. The prospect of the sword having magic within it had never occurred to him. There was no reason for such a possibly to come to mind either. It was not as if most people had dealings with magic, after all.

“A magical artifact was passed through my family that is attuned with the spell on the sword. I was able to locate you the instant that you entered Caldreth, though it took a bit of work to find you when you were alone.”

“That was only one of my questions,” Caleb stated.

Lance nodded his head in agreement. “Since you probably just forgot to ask it, I’ll explain how I managed to lure you into the alleyway,” he began.

“Let me guess. You used a magical artifact?” Caleb asked, making his captor frown.

“That’s right. The cat was an illusion,” Lance said with a sigh. By the look in his eyes, Caleb could tell that he was annoyed. “You’re not making this all that fun, but I guess I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. Anyways, we are currently underneath the city, so no one will discover us. Very few people go into these tunnels, after all.”

Caleb immediately realized one thing of great importance. No one would come to his rescue if was unable to get free on his own.

“What do I need to do in order to get you to tell me where the Sword of Kirakath is?” Caleb asked after taking a deep breath. “I need to get the sword so that I can hunt some monsters down.”

Lance frowned once again. “That’s not a very noble goal to seek the Sword of Kirakath for.”

Pure anger, the likes that Lance had never seen before, flashed in the younger man’s eyes. “There is no goal nobler than killing the bastards that massacred the people of Kirakath.”

At those words, Lance took a step back. There was no doubt about it. He was surprised, and it was clear that it was genuine. There was no reason to suspect that it was feigned.

“What are you talking about? I haven’t heard any news of a massacre.”

With all of his anger still clear in his eyes, Caleb said, “It’s been less than a week since brigands attacked the village. It was a complete massacre. The only ones that survived were those of us that weren’t in the village at the time.” The images of Gabriel Silver and Hector Green flashed through Caleb’s mind as he spoke those last words.

Lance appeared to have been punched in the stomach at that news. “The news hasn’t become widespread yet then. This is very disturbing, nonetheless.” He took on a look of deep thought at that moment. “I agree that your quest is noble, so we can begin at once. I’ll let you undergo three tests to see if you are fit to learn the location of the sword.”

“Tests,” Caleb growled. “Why do I have to undergo tests? Why can’t I just go and get it?”

With an exasperated sigh, Lance said, “You really need to learn patience. These tests have a purpose. If you’re ready for what lies before you, then you’ll pass. Nonetheless, I need to make sure that you stand a chance at surviving before I send you off to the resting place of the sword. It is a dangerous place, and I’m not going to have your blood on my hands.”

“You’re very chatty for a captor,” Caleb noted, earning yet another frown from Lance.

“I’m pretty bad at this, I suppose,” he said with a sigh. “If you had come a month later, you’d have met my father instead of me. He’d probably be very tight-lipped about everything, but he never actually told me how to act once I had a Son of Kirakath here. He never thought it would happen in my lifetime, let alone his.”

Though Caleb would have found Lance’s words interesting on another day, that day had not yet arrived. “Just tell me what I have to do.”

“Right,” Lance said as he slipped his right hand into the inside of his cloak behind him. “For the first test, you’ll have to figure out what to do on your own, but I have every confidence that you’ll figure it out.”

With a flourish of his cloak, Lance pulled out a crystal orb the size of his head that appeared to be composed of light blue smoke.

With a flash of light from the orb, Caleb found it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open.

When he re-opened them, confusion filled him.

He was no longer standing in a cage. He was standing in a completely empty space with a solid black sky and light blue smoke covering the ground, but it only lasted for a few moments.

As quickly as he could blink, Caleb was engulfed by the blue smoke.

“Caleb, it’s time to wake up.”

The sudden and familiar voice jarred the young man awake, his eyes snapping open to see Gabriel standing in the middle of his room.

Caleb’s eyes widened as he realized that Gabriel Silver was standing in his room.

How can this be possible?
he thought in shock. The room that he was in had been destroyed along with the rest of Kirakath, and Gabriel was supposed to be in Zabryan, undergoing training as a soldier in the King’s Army.

“Caleb, what’s wrong?” Gabriel asked with concern apparent in his voice. “Did you have a bad dream or something?”

“What’s going on?” Caleb asked as he sat up from his bed, where he was still in his nightclothes. How he came to wear clothing that he had not been in possession of since he left on his hunting trip was the least of his concern at that moment, however. “You left to join the King’s Army in Zabryan, and Kirakath was destroyed by bandits.”

Gabriel cocked his head sideways at Caleb’s words. “What in the abyss are you talking about? I told you I turned down the offer to go to Zabryan, and Kirakath is just fine. Your dad makes sure of that.”

Gabriel would never have turned down that offer,
Caleb thought as he rose to his feet. With a cursory glance around his room, he saw that his longbow was setting on his dresser. “This can’t be real. My bow was destroyed.”

“It sounds to me that Caleb had a pretty bad dream,” Michael Sullivan said as he walked through the door. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Words escaped Caleb at the sight of his father. He simply could not process everything that was going on.

Could it have all been a dream?
Caleb eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

“Did you hear me?” Michael asked, concerned.

Clearing his throat, Caleb nodded. “I’m sorry. It just felt so real.”

“I understand,” Michael said as he walked over to Caleb and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Sometimes, dreams can do that to you. You’ve been taking Hector’s absence hard. The stress could easily be behind this.”

“He’s still gone?” Caleb asked, almost hoping that he would be back too.

Michael nodded with a grim smile. “He’ll be back before you know it.”

Caleb looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. He could not find it in him to be surprised, or even disappointed, at his mentor’s absence. It had become to normal to be anything but expected.

“For the life of me, I can’t remember what happened yesterday,” Caleb said after a few moments.

“Well, early yesterday morning, you went to practice at that range of yours,” Michael said thoughtfully. “While you were there, a messenger came with the letter to Gabriel. Immediately after Gabriel wrote his reply and the messenger left, he went to find you and tell you the news.”

“That’s right,” Gabriel said with a nod. “We spent some time at the range, and you showed me how skilled you’ve become with that bow. I have to say that I’m a little jealous of your ability.” Those words had Caleb frowning, though Gabriel did not seem to notice. “Anyways, we had a little celebration last night after I told Dad that I’d be staying in Kirakath.”

This isn’t Gabriel,
Caleb thought without a hint of doubt. Gabriel might have rejected the opportunity to join the King’s Army if Michael had told him not to, but the raven-haired young man would never have been envious of anyone’s skill with a bow. There was no way that Gabriel would have ever spoken a lie in front of Michael either, so he could not have been lying about being jealous.

I knew that this was too good to be true,
Caleb thought bitterly as he looked to his father.

“Dad, what color are the walls of Caldreth?” Caleb asked.

Without hesitation, Michael said, “They’re dark gray. Why do you ask?”

Caleb sighed as felt even surer of his doubts. “I’m tired of this game. I need to find the Sword of Kirakath.”

As soon as those words were spoken, Michael and Gabriel faded into blue smoke. The smoke then formed a single person.

“Lance,” Caleb said with barely restrained anger.

“Why do you disrupt your own paradise?” Lance asked with a frown. “This world is exactly what you want it to be. You could have your family and your home back if you wish. I suppose you could leave this world if you wished, but why choose an empty life of revenge over your paradise?”