The first time, it had temporarily paralyzed him. The second time, he had still been able to move and fight fairly well. The third time, it had knocked him out. The fourth time, he had been able to fight on par with Sir Edmond. And the fifth time, he had not even felt pain. Instead, it had given him bloodlust.
Looking at the sheathed sword, he quickly came to a conclusion.
This sword isn’t a good thing.
Whether the conclusion was true or false, Caleb could only guess. There was no denying that the sword’s magic was unstable. Even he, a young man with no experience in magic, could see that.
Caleb looked away from the sword and back over his shoulder to the dead man. Cain Fell had caused more turmoil in his life than he had ever thought possible.
A frown formed upon his face. Despite the fact that he thought relief would come to him with the deaths of the ones who massacred Kirakath, he felt nothing.
Emptiness filled him. His quest for revenge was over. He had killed them all. And yet… he did not feel relief. He did not feel anything. He had expected it to give him something, but it seemed that he had been wrong.
With uncertainty consuming him, Caleb walked away from the dead bandit and towards the still open gates of the camp, only pausing to retrieve his knife from the bandit that he had thrown it at. He carefully walked around the corpses of the men that he had killed on his way in. Seeing all the bodies only made his uncertainly grow even more.
There was no doubt in his mind that they deserved the death that he had given them, but that was all there was. He felt no remorse at seeing them dead. Neither did he feel any relief or happiness though.
“Caleb, are you okay?”
Caleb’s eyes suddenly shot up, immediately spotting Katie as she approached with their horses.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said as he began to walk towards her. “I’m done here.”
Katie nodded at that, a sad look appearing in her eyes that did not escape Caleb’s notice.
“Is something wrong?” From the way she quickly turned away from him, he knew the answer to his question even before she answered.
“This is where we part ways,” she said quietly. “I’ve repaid my debt to you. You saved me from a life of servitude, and I helped you on your quest.”
Caleb looked surprised by her words, though surprise was not the only emotion that hit him as he heard them. There was pain there too. Though they had only known each other for a few weeks, Caleb had become attached to Katie. Sure, they argued quite frequently, but that had not changed the way he looked at her.
“We don’t have to part ways,” he said once he recovered. He briefly considered telling her that he needed a friend around, but it did not seem like the right thing to say.
“Yeah, we do,” Katie said sadly as she looked at Caleb. “It’s been fun, but this is where we part ways. You need to figure out what to do next, and I need to figure out where my path leads too.”
Caleb’s shoulders slumped at the news. From the look in her eyes, it was clear that she was not going to budge on the issue.
“Don’t worry. We’ll see each other again,” Katie promised. She then reached for a small sack that had been tied to her saddle and undid the knot that held it. With a smooth toss, she threw it to him.
On instinct, Caleb reached out and caught it, a ripple of pain being sent through his arm as is struck his sore hand. He did not drop it though.
“Last night, I divided up the forty crowns that we still had left. Spend yours wisely,” she said as she turned and put her foot in her stir-up. She swung her other leg over the horse and sat in the saddle before she spoke again. “Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble. I don’t want to have to come to your rescue because rubbed someone the wrong way.”
“I’ll try,” Caleb said as he shook his head. He doubted such a thing would happen in the first place, but he thought he should go ahead and humor her.
“Good-bye,” she said with a small smile as she turned her horse around and kicked it into a trot.
Caleb’s eyes stayed on Katie until she was out of sight. Then, he walked away from his horse, letting it remained standing there. He was not all that concerned whether it ran off. Thankfully, it stayed where it was, though.
It was a short walk to where he had hung his bow, and it was rested on the tree branch untouched.
At least nothing broke this one.
While it did not have as much sentimental value as the one that the bear snapped in two, it was still important to him. After all, one of his few friends had given it to him.
He carefully grabbed the bow by its leather wrapped grip and picked it up. Removing the bow as cautiously as one would move a big piece of glass, Caleb removed it from the branch. With it free, he slipped his left arm and head between the bowstring and the bow so that it would rest comfortable on his right shoulder and left side.
At that point, he headed back to where he had left his horse.
He reached the horse again in no time. It had only moved a few feet away. Its head was down, chomping at the grass until he neared it. At that point, its head snapped up and looked to him.
Caleb walked up to the horse and rubbed its neck before placing his hand on the saddle.
Sticking his foot into the stir-up, he stepped into it and swung his leg over its back. He fastened the coin purse that Katie had tossed him to his belt before taking the reins in hand.
He looked out to the horizon, the sun having just become fully visible.
So where do we go now, girl?
Though he had no idea where he would go, he did know one thing. He wanted to be as far away from the Shadowpeak Mountains as he possibly could.
So with that, Caleb of Kirakath rode away from the Shadowpeak Mountains. For the first time since his quest began, he allowed himself to grieve for his loved ones.
Epilogue
The sound of rain drumming against earth filled the dark chamber as the dark figure slowly moved, step by step. The melodic drumming of the rain easily broke the all too common silence that he had come to expect in the secluded chamber. By the subtle curvature of his mouth, it was clear that the figure was not upset by the change. He welcomed it.
He's still alive. That's the only way the bond's pull could be so sporadic.
The figure shook his head as he felt a chill run down his spine.
He's getting closer again. It's not pulling as hard.
Relief fluttered through him at the thought of the tugging sensation growing weaker.
This is both a blessing and a curse for us both.
He smiled as he finally reached the doors. They had been left open.
Thanks for making it so easy to get out. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be bound to this place.
A grin found its way to his face as he thought about the sudden change. It had been too long since he last saw the outside world.
I look forward to seeing you again, Caleb of Kirakath.
And with that, Sir Edmond, the spectral knight and the last wielder of the Sword of Kirakath, stepped out from the ancient city of Draesa.
He was free at last.
Everything was going according to plan.
Chapter 1
As the sun was setting, Caleb rode his horse down the rocky road to the north of Lysaen. The black and white paint had a rough trot, bouncing him in his black leather saddle as though he had not spent much time in the saddle in his life.
He sighed as he tried to slow the horse down a bit. He was in no hurry, but it seemed that she refused to drop below a trot. Katie had not been lying at all when she told him that paints were stubborn.
A fond smile made its way to his face as he thought of Katie. He had met her a little over half a year earlier as a prisoner in a bandit camp. After he had saved her from a life of slavery, she had decided to help him with his quest.
The near perpetual frown that he had worn in the last six months suddenly surfaced at that train of thought. Everything went back to his qu
est. It was what kept him from feeling happiness.
A day or so before he had met Katie, his home village of Kirakath had been massacred by a force of bandits. He had been away from the village at the time on a hunting trip, so he had survived. When he discovered what happened, only his father still lived, but he had been on the verge of death.
His father's last request had been that he take up the Sword of Kirakath and avenge his village. That had become his quest, his life's purpose. Throughout it, he had expected to die once he succeeded.
Half a year had passed since he killed Cain Fell, the leader of the bandits that had massacred Kirakath. Even after he killed the man, Caleb continued to live. What he had thought to be his life's purpose had long since been completed, and he was still around.
Often, he asked the stars why he still drew breath. Naturally, he had not yet gotten an answer.
He broke away from his thoughts as he began to take notice of his surroundings. It was so easy to get lost in the monotony of the forests that covered the land of Arcadia that he had not even noticed the inn that was coming up on his right hand side.
His hand touched the soft leather of his coin purse, and he reached into it. Feeling around, he counted out twenty silver marks.
“I must have spent my last crown in Lysaen,” he muttered to himself. It did not make much of a difference to him if he had a gold piece or ten silver marks. They were worth the same amount, after all. Truth be told, he preferred having copper pieces or silver marks over crowns. They had a tendency to draw far less attention.
I guess I'll be sleeping inside tonight. It's definitely better than sleeping on the ground.
He brought his horse to a stop in front of the inn, pulling back on the reins hard. It was similar to the Black Raven Inn outside of Caldreth, but the sign above the door had a picture of a light blue sparrow on it. There were no words written on it, but that did not surprise him too much. Even though he could read and write, many commoners could not.
Caleb slid off of his mare and stroked the pommel of his sword as he walked towards the door of the inn. With it open, he made a clicking sound with his teeth, and the paint began to walk towards him. It followed him as he walked to the back of the building where the stables were. Of the five stables that had been put in, only one of them was free, so he put his horse there.
After that, he walked back to the entrance of the inn, going through the door to the right when he neared it. It brought him into the tavern portion of the inn. A dozen or so tables were scattered in front of the bar, where a middle aged man was standing.
The seventeen year old boy walked up to the bar and lightly placed his right hand on its surface. “I'll take some water and a room for the night,” he said as he looked the bartender in the eyes. As he spoke, he lifted his right hand, revealing a silver piece.
“For a silver, you can have my finest bed and all the water you can drink,” the man said as he turned to the rack that was mounted on the wall behind the bar. Next to it were three large barrels that rested atop crates. He removed a pewter tankard from the rack and held it beneath the valve that protruded from the barrel on the far right. Water spilled into the tankard as the innkeeper began to speak again.
“It looks like something's troubling you.”
“I'm fine,” he said without hesitation. He knew that the man was just making small talk. He had been to enough roadside inns to know that much, at least.
“If you say so,” the innkeeper said as he set the tankard in front of the young man. “You look like you could use something a bit stronger though.”
“I probably could, but I'd rather keep a clear mind,” the young man said with a dismissive shake of his head.
“As you say,” the innkeeper said with a shrug.
Caleb brought the tankard to his lips, wetting his throat. It was not the freshest water he had ever tasted, but when it came to a mostly tasteless drink like water, he was not that picky.
“Thanks,” he muttered as he lowered the tankard and turned away from the bar. He made his way to a table in the far corner of the room.
As he sat down, a pang of loneliness filled him. He had been alone for far too long. There were a few people that he truly missed. Of those still living, the one he missed the most, strangely enough, was not Gabriel Silver, his best friend growing up. It was Katie.
Where are you now? The image of his redheaded companion came to mind, sending a subtle pain rippling through him. Ever since she left after the death of Cain Fell and the Black Crows, he had missed her. Though they had only known each other for about a month before they parted ways and their relationship had been grounded on a perceived debt, she had dominated his thoughts since then.
Is there anything I could have done differently?
The question seemed to come up daily, but he had yet to come up with an actual answer. The closest thing to an answer that he could come up with was that he made a mistake. It was the only explanation that seemed somewhat likely.
Sure, we may have argued a bit too often, but having her around… it would have to be better than this.
Sometime after he finished his water, Caleb found his eyes wandering over his shoulder to the door of the tavern. It seemed perfectly timed with the door creeping open slowly.
His eyes moved back to the tankard immediately. He had nothing to worry about. After all, nearly everyone in the world was a stranger to him. One more showing up did not really make a difference in the grand scheme of things.
As the sound of footsteps drew near after a few moments, Caleb eyes once again went over his shoulder. He took in the sight of a man in his early twenties with a clean shaven face and dark hair tied in a pony tail. He was garbed in black, though his body was mostly covered by a black cloak.
He stopped a few feet away from Caleb and spoke clearly with a subtle accent. “Greetings to you, sir. I don't suppose your name is Caleb Sullivan, is it?”
“I am,” Caleb said stiffly. He had not actually used his surname since the Massacre of Kirakath. He had taken care to leave it off of his name during introductions since then. It stirred wounds that were not fully healed yet.
The man smiled, though no hint of emotion could been seen in it. “That's good to hear. I have something for you.” His right hand slid into his cloak on his left side as he spoke.
A sense of warmth suddenly surged through Caleb's blood, and he felt as though he stood before a large fire.
Out of pure instinct, Caleb threw himself to his right out of his chair. He hit the ground and rolled away, his eyes catching movement. The man had drawn a dagger from beneath his cloak and had brought it in an arc directed at Caleb. If he had not acted when he did, he would have been sporting a nasty cut at the very least.
That was a lucky save. But why in the abyss did he try to kill me?
“You appear to be as good as I was told,” the man said as he pointed the dagger at him. “But the question remains… was that skill, or was it luck?”
“There's only one way to find out,” Caleb said as his hand found the handle of the knife at his belt. Though he usually left his long sword attached to his saddle so that he did not have to carry it at all times, he always made sure to carry his stag handled hunting knife.
As fast as Caleb could blink, the man was a few feet away from him, lunging forward with his dagger. Caleb had an advantage though. He had less distance to cover in order to defend than the man had to cover in order to attack.
All eyes were upon them as Caleb deflected the dagger and brought the knife in a swift arc, slashing the man's throat smoothly.
As the man fell to the ground, Caleb's eyes went to the door of the tavern as it was thrown open. Two men, garbed similarly to the man that he had just killed, ran into the room.
But something else happened too, and it was something that was even more worrying. It felt as though fire had filled his veins.
No! This can't be happening! I'm not even in the same room as the sword, but it feels ju
st as intense as it did last time!
His thoughts soon came to an end as bloodlust took over.
The only warning that came before he bolted forward was the barely noticeable tensing of his muscles. As subtle as the warning was, both cloaked figures noticed it and readied themselves. The first one drew a scimitar from his hip, while the other one drew a pair of short swords from his back.
“Get down!” the innkeeper yelled as he ducked behind the bar. His words caused the other patrons to get under the tables that they were sitting at.
They had another effect too. They drew the first man's eyes way from Caleb.
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 17