Through the Flames (9 page)

Katie took the cloth from his hands without asking and looked it over carefully. Finally, she returned it and said, “I don’t recognize the symbol, but I know someone who can find it out.”

“You do?” Caleb asked in surprise.

She simply nodded before appearing to grow serious. “Before I say anything further, I need to know how you plan to get us inside Caldreth. We are both covered in dirt, and you have quite a bit of blood on your clothes. Factoring that in with your very nice sword is going to cause us problems if we try to get in through the front gates.”

“How else would we get in though?” Caleb asked, clearly believing that that was the only way.

Katie looked at him with surprise, but she merely sighed. “We will be brought before a magistrate within an hour if we try things your way. I have no doubt that we would be hung, which brings up the only possibility that I can see working. We need to come in with clean clothes, and it would help if we were riding horses.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, unsure of what she was getting at.

“Before I explain, you need to know the truth about me,” Katie said as she looked towards the fire. “I’ve lived on my own on the streets of Caldreth since I was thirteen. The only way I could survive was by becoming a thief and stealing what I needed to survive. Over the years, I met a man a few years older than me. He’s a fence, a merchant that deals in stolen property. He’s also one of my few friends. Because he lives a few miles away from Caldreth, he is our best bet at getting in the city.”

“Then we will have to meet with him,” Caleb said with a single moment of thought on the matter. With a single glance, he could see Katie’s surprise. “My father used to tell me never to judge a man until I understood his actions and circumstances. I’m sure you only did what you needed to do.”

“Again, I say that you are the most interesting man that I’ve ever met,” she said with a soft smile. Shaking her head suddenly, she said, “The man that we’ll be visiting will help us, but he won’t do anything for free.”

Alarm crossed Caleb’s features at that. “How are we going to pay for his services?”

With that, Katie removed a small cloth sack about the size of her fist from behind her at her belt. Holding the sack in front of her, she said, “I picked up what those highwaymen gained before we left their camp. We have about fifty crowns.”

His eyes widened at that news. He had never imagined being near such a large sum of money. If everyone in Kirakath had pitched in, they might have been able to come up with a single crown.

“When did you do that?” he asked. He could not remember seeing her pick anything up outside of her belt and her boots.

“A pickpocket has to be good at doing things without being obvious.” That was all she would say on the matter, and Caleb nodded his head in acceptance of the knowledge that she would not explain it any further.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked as he finished his relatively bland meal. Meat by itself was somewhat filling, but it was definitely not a grand meal.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Katie said after she swallowed the last piece of the rabbit that Caleb had given her.

At that, they both rose to their feet and began to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

Their journey to Caldreth truly began as they left their temporary sanctuary.

“So where does this friend of yours live again?” Caleb asked, glancing at his companion as they made their way down the road towards Caldreth.

“Nicolas owns an inn alongside the road,” Katie said as she kept pace with him effortlessly. “By his estimates, the inn is five miles away from Caldreth’s gates.”

Curiosity surfaced upon his face at that. “Why would anyone open up an inn so close to a big city like Caldreth? I can’t imagine he’d get much business.”

“His business is in stolen merchandise,” Katie said with a raised eyebrow. “The inn is just a front for his business as a fence. As it is, most of the people that rent rooms at the inn are only there to buy or sell something to him. Because it is located outside of the city walls, it is safe from city officials and the guard too.”

“So it’s just a hideout for criminals?” he asked, disturbed by the idea.

“It’s a place of business,” Katie corrected him. “Nicolas doesn’t allow anyone to stay unless they are paying for a room. Even then, he doesn’t let anyone stay unless he’s sure they won’t attract attention to his place. It’s a shop first, and an inn second.”

“Whatever you say,” Caleb said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Katie sighed at that point. She could understand the inner conflict that seemed to envelope him at times. Despite being rather understanding about her being a thief, Caleb had made his opinions regarding criminals quite clear since they left the cave that morning.

Her eyes narrowed suddenly as her attention went to the road before them. With the dense forest on both sides of the road, she had been focusing on her surroundings carefully from the start, but what she saw up ahead made her even more nervous. “We should proceed with caution.”

“If that’s what you want, feel free to do so,” Caleb said as he kept at his pace, undisturbed as he neared the bodies that were lying on the ground a little farther down the road.

“Are you insane?” Katie asked quietly as she ran up next to him.

“No, but these were the first men that I ever killed,” he replied as they came within twenty yards of the three brigands that he had killed the day before. One of them still had Caleb’s hunting knife between his eyes.

Without saying another word, Caleb walked over to the highwayman that he had killed with the knife, dropped to a squatting position, and pulled the knife free with a little effort. With his nice free, he wiped the blood off of it on the dead man’s tunic and sheathed it at his hip.

With a small smile, he turned and looked at Katie. “I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling much better now.”

He is definitely not like any other guy that I’ve ever met. That’s for sure,
she thought as she looked upon him.
‘I’m never going to understand him, am I?

As they proceeded down the road, that question continued to pester her.

* * * * *

Within the hour, they arrived at their destination. Like the road that they had been travelling along, the road that ran in front of the inn had dense forests at its sides, but a path had been cut through the forest to their left, making it appear as if the road branched off.

Peering through the path that was cut through the forest, they could see a finely made two-story building, composed entirely of wood. Intricate designs were cut into the outer walls of it, making the inn appear to be partially covered in thorny vines. Other than that, only one thing truly stood out about the place. Above the large door, a flag that bore the emblem of a black raven had been hung.

“I don’t suppose this is the Black Raven Inn?” Caleb asked with a glance to Katie.

She could not contain her surprise at the question. “How do you know its name?”

Caleb looked towards the inn, his eyes darting to one of the windows on the bottom floor. “I’m a hunter. I’d be a pretty poor excuse for one if I couldn’t tell the difference between a raven and a crow.”

The image of the piece of cloth Caleb carried around with him suddenly flashed to mind.

Those are the only two types of black birds that I know of,
Katie thought, glancing at her new companion.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew of at least a few more.

“So, is there anything I should know about this Nicolas?” Caleb asked, resting his left hand on the pommel of his longsword.

She took on a thinking post at that for a few moments before answering. “Nicolas… his name is Nicolas Edge, and he is the son of a relatively low-ranking noble in Caldreth. In order to prevent his son’s business from getting out in the open, Nicolas was given the funds to have this inn built by his father. That’s about all I really feel comfortable talking about with you right now though. I don’t like talking about people behind their backs.”

“That’s fine,” Caleb said with a curt nod. “Let’s just go and talk to this friend of yours.”

With that, they proceeded to walk towards the inn, going through the path that had been cut in the forest. When they came closer, they could easily see that the inn had been built in a small clearing..

Reaching the finely crafted doors, Caleb grasped one of the brass door handles and pulled, slowly opening the door to his right. He barely managed to suppress a grunt as he fully opened the heavy door.

“It’s a good security measure,” Katie remarked as she walked past him into the inn.

Once Caleb stepped through and shut the door, he began to look around. From the look on his face, Katie could tell that it was not what he had expected. She suspected that everything that he had known about inns came from stories.

The spot where they were standing had a dirt floor, and there were walls to his left and right, making the area that they were in comparable to a four foot wide hallway. About five feet in front of them, there were two large wooden doors. One was to the left, and the other was to the right. Thoughts of where to go came to mind. Both doors were options, but so was the area that the hallway-like path led to.

“The stables are down there,” Katie suddenly said, pointing forward. “I’m guessing Nicolas only has his horse back there at the moment.”

“Where are we headed to?” Caleb asked with a sigh. It was easy to see that he was getting quite frustrated at not knowing what he was doing.

“Left… definitely left,” Katie said with a small smile. “That leads to the tavern. Right leads to the rooms where we’ll be staying.”

“What’s on the top floor?” Caleb asked curiously.

“The top floor is used for storage,” she said simply as she walked forward.

Instantly understanding that she was referring to her friend’s business as a fence, Caleb followed after her, passing her just as they reached the door. The door seemed to be just like one of the front doors, and it was just as difficult to open.

Once it was pulled open, they were treated to the sight of about ten tables spread out across a wide-open room with a light colored floor made of wood.

Entering, they saw a bar to their right. It was behind that bar that they saw the only other person in the room. Dressed in all black clothing with long black hair tied back into a ponytail and dark gray eyes, the young man’s very light colored skin stood out.

Walking around the bar, his lips pressed together into a small smile. His right hand was resting on a dagger that was at his belt on his right side.

“Katie, it has been a while,” he said as the smile deepened. “I haven’t heard from you since my dear uncle had you sent away about a month and a half ago. How are you?”

“It hasn’t been that long. I’ll admit, it does feel like it has much longer than it really has been, Nicolas,” Katie said, adding his name more for Caleb’s sake than anything. “And yes, your uncle sent me away, as you so aptly put it, about a month and a half ago.”

As the discussion was going on, Caleb’s eyes narrowed and a frown formed upon his face as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on between the two.

“I see… anything interesting happen?” Nicolas asked as he stopped about ten feet away from them.

“Not much,” Katie replied dryly. “When I was on my way back, I encountered some highwaymen. As it turns out, I was tired and they were actually slavers.”

“You were captured by slavers?” Nicolas asked in surprise. A trace of anger could be seen in his eyes. “I hope they are dead.”

“My new friend killed most of them,” she said with a small smile as she gestured towards Caleb, who looked a little confused at the interplay between them.

“That explains the blood,” Nicolas said as he looked Caleb over carefully. The dried blood on his clothes was even more prevalent to the trained eyes of the raven haired young man. “My name is Nicolas Edge, the proprietor of the Black Raven Inn. I’m sure our lovely friend has told you all about me already though.”

“She’s told me that you’re a fence,” Caleb said, bristling at the man’s smooth voice.