Caleb froze as his eyes drifted to the pommel of his sword.
I knew I had seen it before. It’s the same sword that he had when I saw him last time.
“Who are you?” Caleb asked quietly.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” the specter replied as he stopped a dozen feet away. “The last company I received had absolutely no idea what this room contained.” As he said that, he gestured off to the side.
Caleb’s eyes followed the specter’s gesture to a skeleton next to the wall to his right. His stomach immediately felt uneasy. It did not have a single trace of flesh upon them, making it clear that it had been there for a few years at the very least.
“I honestly don’t know how long it’s been since he showed up. Time passes unnoticed… by the dead, at least,” he remarked.
As Caleb’s eyes returned to the specter, a realization struck him.
He looks just like me. It’s almost like looking into a mirror.
That thought did not sit well with him, especially based on what the specter had just said.
Clearing his throat, he said, “My name is Caleb of Kirakath. I was sent here to get the Sword of Kirakath.”
The specter smiled at those words.
“My name is Sir Edmond, and I am the Keeper of the Sword of Kirakath. I was the last wielder of the sword and have stuck around to make sure no one reclaims it.”
“We have a problem then,” Caleb said as he grabbed the hilt of his longsword and drew it. “I wasn’t asking your permission. I was informing you that I’m going to take that sword, Sir Edmond.”
The specter drew a ghost-like sword identical to Caleb’s at those words. “You can try.”
“Gladly,” Caleb said as he held his longsword in both hands and ran at the ghost.
As Caleb dashed towards the spectral knight, Katie watched with fear clear in her eyes. As with the griffin earlier, she was too shocked to do anything. Unlike the last time, there was nothing that she could have done, even if she wanted to, however. After all, a barrier stood between her and them.
A frown made its way to Caleb’s face as the spectral knight’s sword met his own. No sound echoed from the clash of sword, though the ghost-like sword appeared to be just as strong as metal.
“By the look on your face, I take it that you’re surprised,” Sir Edmond mused. “If you had a normal sword, you’d be able to cut through me effortlessly… though the blade would never actually touch me. You are lucky to carry my sword.”
“I thought that was your sword,” Caleb said as he glanced to the throne.
“It is,” Sir Edmond agreed immediately. “There’s no rule saying that you can’t use two swords in your lifetime, is there?”
Now I remember… Lance mentioned that he used both swords. I seem to be forgetting too many things as of late.
“Shut up,” Caleb said as he jumped back and spun around. He used the momentum of his body to swing the sword in a long, powerful arc that was aimed at the spectral knight’s knees.
Sir Edmond, however, had different plans. As soon as Caleb turned his back to him in the spin, he stabbed the top of the ghost-like blade into Caleb’s right shoulder. He withdrew the blade immediately. The damage was already done.
Caleb howled in pain as he released his sword hand, causing the sword to fly off to the side and slide across the stone floor.
“You’re not very good, are you?” Sir Edmond asked sarcastically. “What kind of swordsman turns his back on his enemy? Fancy flourishes and spinning arcs are best left for performers. They have no place in battle. Why do you insist on insulting me?”
“I’m not a swordsman,” Caleb grumbled, slowly rising to his feet.
“And you want the Sword of Kirakath anyways?” Sir Edmond asked with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t intend to sell it or anything, do you?”
“Not at all,” Caleb said before dashing towards his fallen sword. He reached down, picked it up, and spun around with it just in time to parry Sir Edmond’s strike. “I’m a little busy, so you’ll have to forgive me if I wrap this up in a hurry.”
Sir Edmond snorted at his foe’s words. “Feel free to show me how you intend this.”
Immediately, the two men went into action. A repetition of striking and blocking began as Caleb attempted to overcome the spectral knight.
From her position, Katie was easily able to see something that troubled her. Caleb held his sword with both hands and used all of his strength and speed to fight the ghost. Sir Edmond, however, held his sword in one hand and appeared to be bored.
Though neither one of them managed to land a strike on the other, it was clear that Sir Edmond was winning.
After a few minutes of engaging in their battle of swordsmanship, Sir Edmond slapped the flat of his blade against Caleb’s wrist, making him drop his sword. He then delivered a sharp kick to Caleb’s abdomen, sending him flying a few feet backwards.
“Do you see now? Your attempts are futile. I’m a master swordsman and I literally cannot get tired. You, however, are an amateur swordsman and lack the endurance to fight a sustained battle,” Sir Edmond said as he looked down at the young man. “If you vow to walk away and to never return, I will let you leave. Otherwise, your life is forfeit.”
Caleb was not listening to Sir Edmond though. Once again, it felt as though his blood was on fire. It was unlike any other instance though. It was more painful… more intense.
Unlike the last time it happened, the pain did not knock him out or incapacitate him at all. In fact, Bearing with the pain, he felt stronger.
What is this?
Caleb’s eyes drifted to the sword that was resting upon the throne. It was less than fifteen yards away.
It’s within your grasp. You can reach it before he can reach you.
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.
Chapter 20
“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 broke
n 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.
Through the Flames Page 15