Alexander’s eyes lit up at the sight of the gold. “He will not have any problems from any of my men.”
“Good,” she said as she slid the coins over to him, the golden image of King Arcacius catching the light as they slid. “And before you ask, I’m not interested in doing any more jobs. I don’t expect that I’ll be in the city for too much longer.”
An unexpected emotion flitted across Alexander’s face at those words.
Is he concerned? The thought surprised her. It seemed very uncharacteristic of him.
“Don’t get yourself into anything that you can’t get out of,” Alexander said as he stacked the crowns in front of him. “If I know you as well as I suspect I do, and I’m sure I do, then you have no doubt gotten yourself into trouble again.”
Katie bristled at his words, insulted by his insinuation.
“You may have been my boss for the past few years, but you don’t know me. You’ve only ever cared about yourself.”
A wry smile found its way on Alexander’s face. “I suppose it would look that way to you, but you don’t know the complete truth. There are many things that you are unaware of, my dear Katherine.”
Cold fury ignited in the redhead’s eyes as she rose to her feet. “How do you know that name?”
Alexander’s smile did not fade, despite his associate’s anger. “I know more than you could imagine. I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I couldn’t obtain such information on one of my own subordinates, now would I?”
“If you tell anyone, I will kill you,” Katie vowed, her hand resting on her dagger. By the look in her eyes, there was no doubt that she would be more than willing to go through with her threat.
“I know,” Alexander said with a nod. “I can understand why you’ve chosen to keep this a secret, and I have every intention of respecting your wishes. That doesn’t mean that you should relax too much though. I’m not the only one who knows.”
She froze at those last words, more than a little unnerved. “Who knows?”
The only answer she received with a small smile.
Turning on her heel, Katie stormed out of the room, roughly shoving the door open before she strode across the tavern towards the exit.
It was not until she was outside of the tavern that she took a deep breath and braced herself on the wall with her right hand.
It’s just about time to relocate. If Alexander knows, then it’s just about time that someone else figures it out, Katie thought as she tried to catch her breath. If he figures out that I’m here, then I’m going to have a big problem.
As she finally caught her breath, Katie began to walk down the alleyway towards the street, her steps quicker than normal.
“I just heard that you were back.”
Once again, she found herself in a state of nervousness. There was no doubt in regards to the man’s identity, even without turning to look at him. It was Nicolas’ only uncle and the magistrate of Caldreth, Jason Edge.
Her eyes quickly went over her shoulder to him in the hopes that she was just imagining things. He looked like a ten year older version of Nicolas with a goatee. Unlike his nephew, he wore an attire of fine blue clothing, befitting of his status.
“Word travels fast, Lord Magistrate,” Katie said sharply as she began to walk away from him, uncaring of his position in the city.
Within moments, Jason was at her right, walking along with her as though they were old friends. “I can understand why you are angry with me, but your anger is not appropriately placed,” he said in a whisper. “You may want to blame me, but I was only doing my job.”
“We both know that I was innocent of the thefts that you sentenced me for. I’m not that reckless,” she said quietly, anger evident in her eyes but not her tone.
“Sometimes, a man has to pick one job over another,” Jason said with a sigh. “Has it ever occurred to you that I am not just the magistrate of Caldreth?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, grabbing his shoulder and pulling him into an alleyway as they passed it. She pushed him against the wall forcefully, anger clear in her eyes. “I want to know the truth, and I want to know it now.”
“I temporarily banished you for crimes that you did not commit. I won’t deny that to you in private, but I was acting in the best interests of my nephew’s best friend,” Jason said as he shrugged Katie’s hand off of him. “If you want the truth, then I will give it to you. To put it as simply as I possibly can, Duke Aron made a visit to Count Clovis about a month ago. I thought you’d appreciate me getting you out of the city a few weeks before he arrived.”
A mixture of anger and shock once again filled the redhead. It was impossible that he could know the truth about her. There was just no way that he could know.
And yet… the look in his eyes was impossible to deny. No one could lie to her and look her in the eyes without her seeing it.
“You know.” Her voice grew dry as she realized that she did not make it a question. She had stated it. Even if he had just had a suspicion initially, he knew for sure now.
Jason nodded with a tight smile upon his face. “Yes, I know who you really are. The only people in this city that know, to my knowledge, are Nicolas and I.”
“Alexander knows too,” Katie said with a sigh. “I don’t know how anyone but Nicolas figured it out. He only knows because I told him, after all.”
“Secrets get out. It’s what they do,” Jason said with a grim expression. “I suggest that you get out of Caldreth before it’s too late. He will find out where you are if you stay, but I’m sure you know that.”
“I suppose two and a half years was all I could ask for,” Katie said as she nodded in agreement with the man that she had hated until recently. “I have some business that I need to take care of. After it’s done with, I’ll leave Caldreth.”
“I wish you luck,” Jason said as he stepped to the side. “But we have spoken long enough. I don’t want anyone to get too suspicious of my absence, after all.”
With that, Jason left Katie to think about everything.
* * * * *
Caleb was not entirely sure where he was, though he knew that he really needed to turn around and try to find his way back to the city gates. He had been wandering through the streets for about an hour, and he had not had any luck so far.
Dad said someone would find me, so where are they? He glanced around at the empty street. I have a better question. Where am I? I should’ve tried to remember what path I took.
Turning around, Caleb saw something that he had never seen before in his life.
A small solid black animal with a long tail, slit-like green eyes, and whiskers protruding from its face stood before him. Its eyes were focused upon him, its expression almost curious.
Hector told me about that creature before, Caleb remembered, thinking back. I believe he said that it was called a cat.
Almost as if on cue, the cat turned and began to run away from him, turning down an alleyway about twenty years away from him.
Mesmerized by the cat’s sudden appearance and departure, Caleb took off running after it, sliding to a stop as he reached the alleyway.
A sense of confusion struck him as he peered into the alleyway. It was completely empty. Curiosity got the better of him as he began to walk down the alley, his eyes glancing around in the hopes of finding the cat.
He was about fifteen feet into the alleyway when it happened. Pain shot through him, beginning from the back of his head. Caleb dropped to his knees before he fell to the ground face first.
* * * * *
Hours passed, and Katie was sitting at one of the tables in the Black Raven Inn with a cup of water resting before her.
A flick from her right hand sent the water within the cup rippling with a soft thud. She repeated the motion a few times, her eyes focused on her rippling reflection in the cup.
“What’s wrong?”
Her eyes went up from the water to the bar where Nicolas was standing. Concern
was clear in his eyes as he stared at her.
“Caleb should have been here by now,” she said as she flicked the cup again. “I’ve only known him for a short time, but I know him well enough to know that he would not just get lost and stay lost. If he managed to get lost, he’d no doubt find his way and be just a little late.”
“You suspect foul play?” Nicolas asked as he walked around the bar and strode towards her table. “I thought you paid off Alexander so he’d be safe.”
“I did,” Katie said, fear creeping into her words. “Alexander would make sure that none of his people touched Caleb. He doesn’t want to make me mad.”
“What do you think happened to him then?” Alexander asked as he took a seat across from her. “I will do my best to try to find him, but I need to know what you think happened.”
It was only when she spoke that Nicolas could see the depth of her fear.
“I don’t know.”
Nicolas closed his eyes and placed his hands over hers. “Let’s try to find him then.”
Chapter 11
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 ins
ide 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.
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