“You can shoot arrows that are a little shorter, but I don’t see any reason you couldn’t shoot the arrows you’ve been using,” the man answered.
“That’s good to know,” Caleb said as he suddenly jumped to his left, easily evading the blade of a dagger as it was brought forth in a stabbing motion. He quickly spun around and slammed his left elbow into the face of a man wearing a black hooded cloak. A crunching sound filled the marketplace, and caused several of the shoppers to run away.
The would-be assassin dropped his dagger as both of his hands went to his nose. It was easy to see that it was broken by the blood that was pouring down the front of his cloak.
As quickly as possible, Caleb stepped behind him, wrapped an arm around his head, and twisted sharply. His neck snapped immediately, and Caleb dropped him to the ground.
On instinct, Caleb turned around and faced the opposite side of the marketplace from where he entered as he took his bow in hand and removed an arrow from his quiver.
Nine men wearing hooded cloaks were standing at the entrance to the marketplace opposite of him. He could easily tell that they were about to rush towards him, but only eight of them were beginning to do it. The other one was reaching inside of his cloak.
The knife thrower needs to be dealt with first. I’ll have at least five seconds to take out the others after he’s dead.
Caleb nocked an arrow, drew it back, and released the bowstring, sending an arrow flying straight at the assassin who had reached into his cloak. It hit him in the jugular just as he had his knife out in plain sight. He dropped it as he fell to the ground dead.
All of the assassins glanced back at their fallen comrade momentarily, but that was a mistake.
Caleb had immediately removed a second arrow from his quiver, nocked it, drew it back, and released his hold on the bowstring a second time, sending an arrow into the kidney of the assassin that was closest to him. He could not even scream in pain as he died.
It was almost as if he was a machine. One of the feathers of his third arrow was touching his cheek by the time the assassins returned their attention to him. All it did for the assassins was allow them to watch another of their comrades die.
Seeing that three of their comrades had fallen to Caleb’s bow, they all rushed towards him recklessly.
His shots were all fast and precise, hitting each one of them in the jugular before they could get within ten feet of him.
Once the nine assassins were dead, Caleb’s attention turned to the street that they had come from. Towards the end of it, he could see an eleventh assassin. He quickly nocked an arrow, drew it back, and fired at that least assassin, but it sunk into the wall of the house behind where he had been standing harmlessly. He had managed to get out of the way in time.
“I’ll see you later,” Caleb said as he quickly took off running after the assassin with his bow in his left hand.
Caleb ran out of the marketplace and down the street that he had seen the assassin standing in, coming to a stop in front of the house that his arrow had struck. His eyes were to the right of where he was standing and in the direction where he had seen the assassin run off too. It was a dead-end that way.
Why didn’t he just go the other way?
Looking to his left, he saw that it went on to and actual street and was not a dead-end, so he could not figure out why the assassin had headed that way.
He’s an assassin, so I need to stop thinking about what I’d do if I was running again.
With determination, Caleb walked into the dead-end, his senses on full alert in case it was an ambush. However, he did not find an ambush or anything. In addition to that, the three doors down the dead-end were boarded shut, making it clear that the assassin had not gone into any of those houses.
If he’s not inside the houses, then he had to have climbed up to the rooftops or gone underground.
He wanted to slap himself across the face at that last thought. Looking down at his feet, he saw a manhole cover.
There are tunnels underneath the city. I’m not sure what their purpose is, but they’re there.
He stepped off of the manhole cover and removed his knife from his belt so he could use it to pry the metal cover up.
It did not take too much effort to get the manhole cover up, at which point he climbed down into the manhole and put the cover back.
As he reached the ground, he saw that the tunnels looked plain with only a little bit of water on the floor.
I have a feeling that the Night Blades have a base down here. I guess I’ll have to be very quiet and careful. I can’t see too well down here, and they’re probably trained to deal with this.
Walking forward, he soon reached the wall, showing that there were two paths he could take. With it being so dark that he could barely see, he was unable to tell which way the assassin had gone.
Oh great… don’t tell me they made some kind of maze down here.
Shaking his head, he headed to his right, having absolutely no idea where he would end up.
He cursed himself for not seeing the assassin and shooting at him after he had taken care of the knife thrower. If he had done so, he would not have lost the assassin.
With that, he began to make his way through the underground tunnels as carefully as possible.
* * * * *
About half an hour after Caleb entered the underground tunnels, the assassin that had witnessed Caleb’s fight with the other assassins entered the personal chambers of the leader of the most prestigious assassins’ guild in Arcadia.
Despite being the personal chambers of the leader of the Night Blades, the room that they were standing in was no more than fifteen feet by fifteen feet.
The assassin gulped nervously as he saw his boss sitting at his chair in front of his desk with a knife in hand. As always, the chair was turned sideways. His boss was not known for reading or anything, so it made sense that the chair never faced the right direction.
Victor Abrams was a man in his mid-thirties with short black hair and green eyes who always wore fine black clothes and had a goatee. He was throwing knives at a few targets that he had hanging from his wall when his subordinate entered his chambers.
“I’ve killed men for coming into this room uninvited,” Victor remarked as he looked at the man from the chair he was sitting in. “Tell me why I should not kill you where you stand.”
“Caleb of Kirakath killed the assassins that you just dispatched,” he said immediately, surprising Victor.
“I just sent them. How in the abyss did he kill them already?” Victor asked.
“He is in Umbridge,” the assassin answered. “I was going to follow the others as you commanded and observe his fighting style so the other men could defeat him with ease, but I ended up having to stay far away from the fight when it happened.”
Victor frowned. “What happened?”
“One of the men attacked him from behind, and he was actually quite stealthy about it. However, the target stepped out of the way, broke his nose, and snapped his neck faster than we could react. Then, he used a bow to shoot all of the others before they could get close. If I hadn’t been on guard, he would have shot me too. His arrow would have gone straight into my throat if I hadn’t rushed towards one of the manholes.”
“I see,” Victor said thoughtfully. “It’s unlikely that he will find our base, even if he followed you into the manhole. We’ll search the streets for him immediately. You may go and rest while I take care of business.”
“Thank you sir,” the assassin said as he left.
“And so the prey comes to me,” Victor said with an eager grin as he threw the knife in his hand at the target across from him, hitting it directly in the center with enough force that it buried half of the blade in the target. “Let the fun begin.”
Chapter 9
Caleb was not sure how long he had been in the tunnels but he was certain that he had been in there for a couple hours at the very least. The tunnels were a true maze. T
here were countless twists, turns, and dead-ends.
He had not yet backtracked to the beginning of the tunnels where he had initially turned right, so he was just beginning to realize how extensive the tunnels were. Fortunately, he felt that he was close to finishing his search of that half of the tunnels.
His suspicion was confirmed when he turned around the corner and saw a light in the distance.
That looks like the light of a torch. Maybe it marks the entrance of their base.
A frown made its way to his face immediately. Even he was skeptical that he would find the entrance of their base so soon. He was not exactly a lucky person, after all.
Still, he gripped the hilt of his sword with his right hand and walked forward as quickly as he could without making a sound. It was a slower pace than he liked, but he was out of his element. He had been trained to sneak through the forest, not through dark tunnels.
As he grew nearer to the source of the light, he saw that it was indeed a lit torch, but he saw something else. He froze upon seeing it clearly.
He had reached the end of the tunnel, but it was almost a dead-end. It ended at a metal ladder that went up into a manhole, but his eyes were not on the ladder.
A girl around his age was sitting, leaned against the wall next to the ladder.
She was a thin girl with deep red hair that fell to her shoulder blades and skin that was so light it was almost pale. Black leather boots, black trousers, and a sleeveless black tunic contrasted sharply against her light skin.
It was Katie.
“I should have known you’d show up,” she said with a weak smile. She cringed once the words were out, and her hands went to her stomach.
Caleb cringed as well as he saw that the front of her tunic was covered in blood. He could tell that she had been stabbed in the stomach several times from the holes in her clothes. The blood on her and on the ground between her legs made it clear to him that she was dying.
That thought nearly destroyed him. He had lost his mentor to a personal hunt, he had lost his best friend to a difference in goals, and he had lost his parents to bandits. They were all gone. It did not matter that they were gone for different reasons or that he only knew that his parents were dead for sure.
He could not lose Katie.
He quickly moved and kneeled next to her with concern in his eyes. “Katie, what happened to you?”
“The Night Blades,” she answered with a weak laugh. “I take it they’re after you too. That’s the only reason you’d be here. I didn’t realize they were after you too. If I had, I would’ve tried to find you so we could deal with them together. It would’ve been just like old times.”
Caleb felt the weight of a mountain fall on his shoulders as he heard her words. They were sent after us both? Damn it, I never considered that possibility. I guess it’s connected to Cain Fell’s death after all.
“It still can be,” Caleb said as he put his hand on her shoulder reassuringly and gave her a weak smile. “You’ll make it through this.”
“No I won’t,” Katie said sadly. “I found their base, and they outnumbered me. I killed a dozen of them, but I eventually ran out of knives. Once that happened, they hit me with a few knives of their own. It took all I had in me to get away. I lost them in the tunnels, but they weren’t trying too hard to chase me. By the time I got here, I had lost too much blood and was too weakened to climb the stairs. I’ve been here for a few hours now.”
“Don’t give up,” Caleb said quietly. “I can’t lose you.”
“I’m sorry,” Katie said as she closed her eyes and laid her head back against the stone wall.
“No, you can’t die!” Caleb yelled, hitting his fist against the wall to his left. “You just can’t die. I won’t lose you too!”
Despite his yelling, Katie’s eyes did not open and she did not speak.
Tears began to bead in his eyes as he felt truly helpless. Once again, someone he cared about was dying and he could not do anything about it.
This is not like what you went through with your father. She can still be saved. She is only unconscious.
Caleb’s eyes widened, and he began to look around for the speaker.
I’m in your head. Stop looking for me, and pay attention.
While most people would have lost it if a voice entered their head and began speaking to them, Caleb was not most people. He had heard a voice speak in his head once before. It had happened when he was in the throne room in Draesa. “Can she really be saved?”
Even before the land of Terra was renamed as the land of Kyran, it was possible to save someone who sustained such an injury. You underestimate the true power of magic.
“Magic,” he muttered. “I don’t have magic, and she’d be dead by the time I could find a mage who could heal her.”
You are not a mage. I will give you that. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have magic. You have one of the greatest sources of magic in the world in your possession. That is the key to saving her.
“I can heal her with the Sword of Kirakath?” Caleb asked skeptically.
No, don’t be silly. The Sword of Kirakath is for killing, not healing. Mundane items like swords and armor cannot heal. The Blood of Kirakath, however, can be used to heal someone if you know how to and are willing to accept the consequences.
“What do I need to do?” Caleb asked. Though he was not absolutely sure that anything could be done to heal her, he was willing to try anything.
All you need to do is embrace the magic and place a hand on her head. All you’ll have to do from there is to think about her healing and will it to become reality. If it is your strongest desire, it will come true.
“Is it really that simple?” Caleb asked, more to himself than to anyone else.
It is simple, but there will be consequences for saving her. That magic was not intended for such a use. Using it for such a purpose is possible, but that doesn’t make it something that can be done without consequence. Only proceed if you are willing to do anything to save her.
“I’d do anything to save her,” Caleb said as he closed his eyes. His blood felt as though it was on fire immediately after the words were out of his mouth. A sudden impulse came over him to hunt down the ones who put her in the state she was in, but he pushed it aside with surprising ease and focused on his desire for her to be healed.
Placing his right hand on her head, he said, “I want you to be healed.”
Over and over, he repeated that one simple sentence. Every time he said it, the fire in his blood grew stronger and stronger. After he said it for the tenth time, it felt as though the fire consumed him completely, but only for a few seconds.
Suddenly, the magic grew dull. Still, he repeated the sentence over and over.
He only stopped when the magic fully left him. At that time, he opened his eyes and saw that Katie was no longer bleeding. On a closer inspection, he saw that her stab wounds had been closed.
“It’s a miracle,” Caleb breathed softly as he leaned against the wall to his left, tired from using the sword’s magic. “She’s going to make it.”
With that, Caleb passed out from exhaustion.
* * * * *
Caleb woke up sometime later, looking around in a daze. His entire body felt sore, but the important thing was that he and Katie were both fine.
He slowly stood up and faced away from Katie, his eyes darting around the tunnels.
At least no one showed up when we were out of it.
He stretched his arms out as he glanced back at Katie.
I’m pretty lucky that I was able to save her. If that voice hadn’t revealed itself when it did, I’d probably be starting another quest for revenge right about now. Still, I wonder what consequences it was talking about.
Shaking his head, he idly touched the hilt of his sword and closed his eyes.
It’s getting easier and easier to draw on the sword’s magic, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
&n
bsp; The next thing he knew, he was embracing the sword’s magic. Like normal, it felt as though his blood was on fire, but there was something different.
Thoughts of fighting and killing overwhelmed him. The urge to run down the tunnels after the assassins and kill them all single handedly actually caused him to dash forward.
His hand quickly left the sword, and the magic faded away. As it left, his mind returned to its normal state, and he leaned against the wall, out of breath.
What in the world just happened? I didn’t even mean to use the sword’s magic, and the bloodlust was worse than anything I’ve ever experienced. Could this be the consequence that the voice spoke of? If so, I’ll have to avoid using its magic when I’m around Katie or Nicolas. It would destroy me if I hurt them by accident.
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 24