Through the Flames (22 page)

“What should I do?” she asked herself aloud, speaking softly. Shaking her head at the question, she drank the sweet contents of the cup.

* * * * *

“Wake up.”

Caleb bolted up from the bed at those words, his hand already on the hilt of his sword as it was propped against the chest next to the bed. He eased his hand from the hilt as he saw Nicolas standing in the doorway. The raven haired man looked tired, but a smile was set on his face.

“Get ready and meet me in the tavern. I’m going to wake up Katie, and then I’ll tell you two what I’ve learned.”

With his piece spoken, Nicolas walked out of the room and shut the door.

As soon as the older boy was gone, Caleb jumped up and dressed, putting on his boots and clothes, along with attaching his scabbard to his belt at his left hip.

He began to walk towards the room at that point, but he stopped and looked towards the chest. Walking over to it, he raised the lid, revealing his knife and his quiver.

I’ll have no reason to come back here once this is all over with.

Making up his mind, Caleb removed his personal effects and attached them at his belt. Then, he left the room and made his way to the tavern.

Much to his surprise, Nicolas and Katie were already there.

I know I wasn’t slow, so how did they get here before me?

“Well, I’m surprised we beat you here. We thought you’d run straight here without bothering to even get dressed,” Nicolas joked with a grin. “Apparently, Katie was already awake and ready.”

Caleb looked at Katie curiously at that.

“I only needed to sleep for a few hours,” she commented. There was no reason to doubt her words, Caleb realized. She looked as though she was fully rested.

“Very well then,” Caleb said as he walked over to the pair. “What did you find out?”

“You’re looking for a band of brigands that call themselves
the Black Crows
. It’s a band composed of no less than twenty-five outlaws, and they’re led by a man by the name of Cain Fell,” Nicolas said immediately. It was easy to see that Caleb was not interested in small talk. “Their camp is situated in the Shadowpeak Mountains. I was a bit skeptical as to whether they were the ones responsible or not because of the distance, but my contact told me that Cain was spotted north of Umbridge three weeks ago.”

“What do you know about this
Cain
guy?” Caleb asked with determination clear in his eyes.

“Cain Fell is a master swordsman. He has quite the bounty on his head for a number of things,” Nicolas answered. “He’s wanted dead for killing his trainer when he was in Zabryan, training to join the King’s Army. From what I understand, he ended up killing a dozen other men when he fled. Everyone who has since gone after him has ended up dead.”

“I guess I get to kill him then,” Caleb said as he stroked the hilt of his sword. “I won’t fail.”

“I doubt you will,” Nicolas agreed. “And to help make sure you don’t, I have a gift for you.”

Stepping aside, Nicolas revealed a cloth wrapped bundle that had been placed atop the bar. He carefully removed it from the cloth for Caleb to see.

Caleb’s eyes widened as he saw what it was.

A longbow, easily recognizable as being made from the wood of a yew tree, sat atop the bar. It was made of simple design without any engravings or tooling, but it also lacked any knots of any kind. It was easy to see that it was made of the finest yew wood around.

It’s even nicer than the one Hector gave me.

Caleb walked up to the bar and picked the bow up, the feel of the smooth wood against his skin refreshing. It seemed like he had not touched a bow in a long time, despite the fact that it had been less than two weeks.

As he held the bow, he noticed that it was not strung, but that was not even an annoyance. He glanced at his quiver with a smile.

“Thank you,” Caleb said as he offered his right hand out.

“Anything for a friend,” Nicolas said as he shook hands with the blond.

Friends?
Memories of his friendship with Gabriel Silver and his interactions with his master, Hector Green, came rushing to the forefront of his mind. With their current statuses, the memories were a little bittersweet, but they were special nonetheless.
 
I like the sound of that. Nicolas seems like a pretty good guy.
There was a bit of irony to that thought, and he knew it. After all, his opinions regarding Nicolas had not been too positive initially.

Breaking contact with Nicolas, he said, “So it looks like this is where we part ways.”

“It is,” Nicolas agreed. “My door is always open to you. If you want to pay a visit when you’re finished with your quest, I’d be more than willing to accommodate you.”

“That means a great deal to me,” Caleb said with a sincere smile. Inside, he did his best to suppress the thoughts that he would never see Nicolas again after that moment. It was not exactly a wonderful thought, after all.

“Good luck,” Nicolas said as he withdrew a rolled up piece of parchment from his tunic and handed it to the blond. “My contact was able to get me a map with the Black Crows’ base marked. With Katie’s help, you’ll be able to find the camp pretty easily.”

“I owe you,” Caleb said as he took the map from Nicolas.

“No,” Nicolas said, shaking his head. “Katie gave me five crowns back when you two first showed up. Consider my end of the bargain complete.”

“We should get going,” Katie interrupted, eyes intent on Caleb as he had begun to open his mouth to speak. “We have a fairly long journey ahead of us.”

Caleb frowned for a moment, but he nodded his head regardless. “Very well then, I’m ready when you are.”

“Then let’s go,” Katie said as she made her way out the door.

Caleb glanced at Nicolas once Katie was gone. “What’s up with her?”

“I suppose something’s eating at her,” Nicolas said with a shrug. “I’ve learned not to let little things like that worry me.”

“You’re no help,” Caleb muttered as he followed after her. He could hear Nicolas laugh as he left.

Caleb never did get Katie to tell him what was bothering her.

“So how are we going to do this?”

Caleb looked over at his companion as she rode alongside him on her mare. They had left the Black Raven Inn five days earlier and were only a few miles away from the place that had been marked on the map as the base of the Black Crows.

“What do you mean?”

Katie raised an eyebrow at the question. “It’s a pretty straight forward question. What’s the plan?”

“We’re going to kill them,” Caleb said simply as he swung his leg over the saddle and hopped to the ground from his stir-up. “That’s the plan.”

“You aren’t one for subtlety, are you?” Katie asked sarcastically. “Seriously, what kind of plan is that? We just walk in and attack them? We are outnumbered by at least twelve to one.”

“If they want a fair fight, then they’re going to need to get some more men,” Caleb said with a shrug as he tied his horse up and pulled the rolled up map out from one of the pouches of his saddle. Giving it a careful look over, he nodded. He quickly rolled up the map, returned it to its place, and freed his bow from where he had tied it to the back of his saddle.

“Please tell me you have a somewhat decent plan. This can’t be it.”

“I need to see the camp first,” Caleb said as he began to walk through the forest, his eyes already adjusted to the darkness that accompanied the night.

Sighing, Katie pulled her horse to a stop, slid off of it, and tied it up before she followed after him.

When she caught up with him, he immediately began to speak.

“Okay, so I’m going to need you to stay out of sight when we get there. I don’t have much of a plan, but I do know that they need to think I’m insane.”

“You aren’t?” Katie countered.

“Very funny,” Caleb said dryly. “How many knives do you have on you?”

“All of them,” she quipped. Seeing the glare he shot her, she amended her answer. “I have ten.”

“That should be enough,” Caleb said with a satisfactory nod. Glancing over his shoulder, he reached into his quiver and felt for the hidden pouch. Swiftly opening it, he retrieved the rolled up bowstring from inside of it and looked at it with a smile.

“What is that?” Katie asked curiously, her eyes not as adjusted to the darkness as his. Unlike him, she was not used to spending too much time in the dark.

Being apprenticed to a hunter has advantages after all.

“It’s a bowstring,” he answered as took a sharp turn to the right, and began to fumble with his bow and the string.

“What are you doing?” she asked, almost hissing at him as she did. His sudden change in direction and the frequent movements he made with his hands seemed to confuse her.

“Your eyes should be adjusting now,” he remarked as he continued to walk through the forest, going up a hill. Everything became less dark as they walked up the hill.

When they finally reached its top, they could both see clearly. The hill that they were standing on gave them an elevated position and a clear view of the Black Crows’ base.

The base was nothing spectacular, though it was still fairly impressive for a band of brigands. About twenty-five small canvas tents were situated around a single large tent. A wooden fence about ten feet high surrounded the camp with a sentry tower at each corner. The sentry towers were about five feet taller than the actual fence and had torches lit at them.

Caleb’s eyes were on the only gates of the fence. They were open, and a path to the center tent could be seen, though a campfire with men around it stood in the middle of that path.

“Those sentries are going to cause us problems,” Katie commented.

“No, they won’t,” Caleb remarked as he finished stringing his bow and pulled it to its full draw, satisfied when the string remained intact and attached properly. He eased it forward carefully, not wanting to dry fire it. “I can handle the sentries.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Katie asked.

Instead of saying a word, Caleb removed an arrow from his quiver, nocked it, and drew the bow back, the turkey feather brushing against his cheek.

“You can’t make that shot. It’s too far away,” Katie whispered harshly.

“Watch me,” he muttered as he released the bowstring.

Katie’s eyes snapped to the closest sentry tower just as the sentry in it was struck in the forehead by an arrow.
 
She turned to Caleb again, just in time to see that he had drawn another arrow back.

* * * * *

Cain jolted up from his chair as he heard a thumping sound. Rushing to the opening of his tent and pulling it aside, he saw that the northeast sentry was nowhere to be seen. His eyes immediately went to the northwest sentry tower just in time to see the sentry stationed there collapse with an arrow stuck into his chest.

Taking a deep breath, he drummed his fingers against the canvas of the tent. His mind rushed as he added in all the factors that he had to consider. At least half of his men were drunk, and the rest of them were no doubt asleep.

I should’ve known better than to keep so many idiots around. If they knew how to work, I wouldn’t be the only one still sober.

He broke from those thoughts as he stepped back into his tent. His men were replaceable, but he was not.

Okay, I need to figure out how many people are attacking and what they want.

Steadying his breath, Cain walked over to his bed and pulled his brown leather boots on and fastening his brown leather belt around his dark green tunic. He spared a glance at his longsword as heard another thump.

Three are down already. I guess it won’t be long until I see what happens.