Through the Flames (21 page)

The sudden voice- a voice that was not his own- surprised him, but he felt himself agreeing with it.

I can reach it before he reaches me. I have to. It’s the only way.

“Are you out of breath?” Sir Edmond asked, clearly annoyed at the silent young man.

Caleb nodded slowly. Sir Edmond seemed to close his eyes the moment that the response was given. It was in that moment that Caleb turned and bolted towards the Sword of Kirakath.

Time seemed to slow down as he came closer to the throne, his eyes taking in the details of the sword. Unlike the sword that he had been using, it was not of simplistic design.

Though the blade was nearly identical, its guard, hilt, and pommel were different.

The guard was more stylistic, with the ends curving and coming to a point.

The hilt of the sword, like the previous one, was wrapped in black leather. A diamond pattern had been cut into the leather in one inch intervals along the center of the hilt, allowing the silver of the steel below to shine. The leather that had been wrapped around the hilt actually stopped about an inch from its end, which made the even more simplistic pommel stand out.

Unlike the other sword’s pommel, it sloped outward and was rounded at its butt, making it wider than any other part of the hilt while still retaining the circular shape.

Caleb’s hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword as he reached it, knowing that he did not have time to admire the finely crafted sword.

As soon as his hand touched the sword, the fire in his veins grew even more intense, but it also seemed to focus. The pain subsided, being replaced by a feeling of discomfort.

Jumping back about a foot, Caleb spun the sword around in an arc, narrowly avoiding the throne and parrying Sir Edmond’s spectral blade.

“Impressive,” the knight said, looking mildly amused. “What do you think that will accomplish? Just having a sword will not make you special.”

Caleb’s response came in the form of pushing the spectral knight’s sword back and swinging his sword in a fast arc, leaving a shallow cut on the ghost-like armor that Sir Edmond wore.

Like lightning, Caleb’s blade flashed again, beginning a relentless assault on Sir Edmond. Their blades met a hundred times in the space of a minute, shocking Katie, who was still watching attentively.

With each passing moment, Caleb appeared to grow even more impassive and his movements grew sharper. It did not take long for him to have Sir Edmond fighting entirely on the defense, barely managing to block the fierce strikes of the Sword of Kirakath.

The moment when it was clear that the battle was over was when Caleb slapped Sir Edmond’s sword off to the side. A single moment was all that was needed for Caleb to thrust his blade into Sir Edmond’s center.

The room exploded in light, radiating from the Sword of Kirakath, immediately after his blade struck true.

With that, the barrier that held Katie from entering the room vanished and Sir Edmond was gone.

“Caleb!”

The blond turned just in time to see Katie rush up to him and wrap her arms around him in a hug.

“Is something wrong?” Caleb asked, mildly uncomfortable. The discomfort was no longer from the fire in his blood. It had faded with Sir Edmond. He just was not used to such interactions with a girl, especially one that seemed to dislike him a great deal one moment and then treat him the exact opposite the next.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you,” Katie said quietly. “All I seem to do is stand around and watch you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Caleb said as he took a step away from her and sheathed the Sword of Kirakath in the scabbard that he had used for his other sword. “You couldn’t have helped anyways. He said that it was only because of the magic of that sword that I was able to fight him.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Katie said, looking down at the floor.

“Come on,” he said, straightening up. “Let’s get out of here.”

He began to walk towards the doors with that said, only stopping to pick up his original sword.

With that, Caleb and Katie made their way through the ruins of Draesa.

They had a long journey ahead of them.

“This is the last place I expected to see you again,” Lance White said as he leaned against the wall, his eyes on the approaching younger man. Even in the dimly lit tunnels beneath Caldreth, Lance could easily recognize the young man before him. It was Caleb of Kirakath.

“I suppose it is,” Caleb said with small nod. “It took a bit of work, remembering how to get here, but I thought I should pay you a visit.”

As he said those words, Caleb held his longsword out with its blade pointed down to the ground.

Lance just seemed to notice that Caleb had been holding an unsheathed sword at that moment, causing him to look surprised. That was when his eyes landed on the sword that was sheathed at his left hip.

“You have the Sword of Kirakath,” Lance stated, an undercurrent of awe brimming under the surface.

“Yeah, so I don’t need this sword anymore,” Caleb said, gesturing to the sword that he held stretched out. “I want you to have it.”

Lance looked as though his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets at those words.

“I can’t accept that,” Lance said, though his eyes told a completely different story.

“I insist,” Caleb said, the sword still extended outward. There was no compromise in Caleb’s eyes. It was clear that he would not allow Lance to turn down the offer.

Exhaling heavily, Lanced asked the big question. “Why?”

With a ghost of a smile, Caleb said, “I owe you. You gave me the answers I needed, and I would never have gotten the Sword of Kirakath without you.” His expression grew more serious as he continued. “Plus, the sword was my father’s. I can’t say if he ever used it or not, but it was his all the same. If I can’t use it, then you might as well have it.”

After a moment of thought, Lance stepped forward and placed his hand around the hilt, but Caleb did not release the sword.

“Tell me… did you know that I was going to have to fight the ghost of a knight?” Caleb asked, his voice coming out calm and neutral.

“Yes,” Lance said immediately. “That’s why I fought you. I needed to see if you had what it takes to survive against him.”

Caleb’s eyes narrowed at that. “Who was he? He said his name was Sir Edmond.”

For a moment, Lance looked confused, but realization dawned in his eyes almost immediately. “So that’s what his name was. I wasn’t sure what he was actually called,” he said thoughtfully. “Anyways, I don’t know too much about him. He lived five hundred years ago though, and he was a knight of both, the Calian Empire and the kingdom of Arcadia.”

“I see,” Caleb said as he released the hilt of the sword. “Thanks for answering my questions.”

With that, Caleb turned away from Lance and began to head back through the tunnels.

“Next time you’re in the area, stop by and see me again.”

Caleb just nodded his head absently.
Who says I’ll live long enough to come around again?

* * * * *

“So where’s Caleb?” Nicolas asked as he looked down at his cup of mead. He was sitting at one of the tables in the tavern of the Black Raven Inn across from Katie. Unlike him, she did not have anything to drink.

“He went to talk to Lance White,” Katie said, her eyes on her old friend. “Apparently, he’s the one who made Caleb disappear last time.”

“And you just let him meet with the man alone?” Nicolas asked in disbelief. It seemed so unlike her to him.

“It’s what Caleb wanted,” Katie said softly.

“What about what you wanted?” Nicolas asked with a raised eyebrow. “You know you don’t have to sacrifice your wants for anyone else, so why do you?”

“I want to be able to stop letting him down,” she said, her voice growing even softer. “I shouldn’t have paused when we met up with the griffin, and I should have been able to figure out a way to get around that barrier when he fought that specter.”

At those words, a look of bewilderment formed upon the young fence’s face. “Did I miss something?”

Sighing heavily, Katie began to tell Nicolas about everything that had happened during their journey to Draesa and what happened there.

It took nearly an hour for her to finish telling the story, though it seemed even longer than that to both of them.

At the end of the story, Nicolas just sat there as he tried to process all the information that Katie had given him. He was silent for what seemed like an eternity before he finally spoke again.

“It seems you two had quite the adventure.”

Katie laughed softly at that. It seemed that Nicolas truly did have a penchant for stating the obvious at times. “I suppose we did.” Looking back at everything that had happened, she found that she could not deny that it had been a surprising adventure.

“So what do you plan on doing once this is all over? You can’t tell me that you haven’t thought about it yet. Once I hear back from my contact, we will know where they are. At most, I’d say you have a week until your debt is paid in full.”

Katie was shocked by those words. The thought of Caleb’s quest coming to a close so soon had not occurred to her. One thing caught her attention most of all though.

“Your contact knows where they are?”

“He knows that they’re based too far away to hear any rumors, so we don’t have to worry about them finding out that we’re asking questions about them. This gives us an advantage,” Nicolas said with a small smile. “I should hear back from my contact by tomorrow.”

Katie leaned back in her chair and looked around the tavern thoughtfully. After a few minutes, she said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I can’t risk getting him involved in my situation though.”

Nicolas nodded sadly. “I suppose you can’t. If
they
found you with him, it would cause problems for him.”

Katie pursed her lips as she looked down at the table. The situation seemed pretty grim to her.

Silence persisted for a few moments, only being broken by the sound of the door opening.

“It’s been a few days since I saw you,” Nicolas said with a smile as he faced Caleb, who entered the room, looking lost in thought.

“It has,” Caleb said as he broke away from his thoughts. “Have you heard anything about them yet?”

“Not yet,” Nicolas said with a calming gesture. “Just give me a little time. I’m going to leave so I can meet with my contact right now. I’ll be back later tonight.”

Caleb nodded and stepped to the side, allowing Nicolas to pass him.

With Nicolas gone, Katie asked, “Are you ready for this?”

“I am,” Caleb answered as he ran his left hand over his pommel. “As soon as Nicolas comes back with the information, we leave.”

“Then we better get some sleep while we can,” Katie said with a yawn. The prospect of sleeping in a bed again sounded like a great idea. She had never slept well while traveling.

“Agreed,” Caleb said as he rolled his stretched his arms out. “I’ll see you when he gets back.”

With that, he turned to walk out of the room, but Katie’s voice stopped him.

“I was hoping we could talk for a little bit first,” she said. She took his pause as a reason to continue. “What do you plan on doing after this is all over?”

Caleb turned to face her, frowning ever so slightly. “I don’t know. I’m still not sure that I’ll survive this.”

At that point, Katie frowned as well. “I see… I’ll see you when Nicolas gets back.”

Though confusion was evident in his eyes, Caleb turned his back to her and left the room, headed for the room he stayed at last time he was at the Black Raven Inn.

Once he was out of the room, Katie sighed and picked up the half-full cup of mead that Nicolas had left.