“What’s going on?”
Caleb’s attention suddenly turned to Katie as she blinked repeatedly and looked around with confusion clear on her face.
“How am I still here? Those injuries should have killed me… and if they did, this is a pretty screwed up afterlife.”
“You’re still alive,” Caleb said with a smile as he turned around and faced her. “I wasn’t about to let you die.”
“You saved me again?” Katie asked, clearly surprised. “How did you do this though? I don’t even feel sore. The only things stopping me from dismissing it all as a nightmare are the blood all over me and the knife holes in my tunic.”
“I’ll tell you how once I figure it out myself,” Caleb remarked with a sigh. He knew how he instigated the healing, but he still did not know how it worked. “What matters is that we’re both alive.”
“You’re right,” Katie said as she slowly rose to her feet. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you. I should never have insisted on parting ways.”
Caleb smiled at her words. “I’m happy to hear that, but we needed to part ways. I needed to find out that I couldn’t go back to living a normal life after everything I’ve done. That’s just not who I am anymore.”
“I guess it wasn’t a total waste after all,” Katie said with a little laugh. “Still, it seems that we were both hunted for taking down the Black Crows.”
“Yeah, I came to the same conclusion,” Caleb remarked. “They first attacked me a little less than six weeks ago.”
“How many did they send?” Katie asked curiously.
“Three,” Caleb answered. “I killed them, and then I headed away from there. I refused to accept that I needed to take care of the problem. Because of that, a man died a month later when seven assassins came for me. After I dealt with them, I sought Nicolas out so I could ask him for help.”
Katie looked surprised at that. “You took out ten assassins before you decided to deal with the problem? And you sought Nicolas of all people out?”
“Yes,” Caleb said, ignoring the look of astonishment she shot him. “I was hoping he had seen you recently so I could get your help, but he said that he hadn’t. And then ten assassins attacked us at the Black Raven Inn. We killed them all. Afterwards, Nicolas agreed to figure out who was after me. A day later, he told me that the Night Blades of Umbridge were after me, so I headed straight here to deal with them. I’ve already killed ten since I’ve been there.”
“You are by far the most confusing man I’ve ever met,” Katie said, shaking her head in exasperation. “You’re responsible for the deaths of thirty members of the Night Blades, and you’re just now somewhat close to their base.”
“I’d have killed more, but I decided to take care of them before anymore of their men could find me,” Caleb said firmly. “So what’s your story?”
“Two months ago, I was attacked by three assassins,” Katie said after a couple of minutes. “I was travelling towards Zabryan when they found me. After I dealt with them, I realized they I couldn’t just run away or hide, so I headed to Carek. I did my best to obtain information on my attackers while maintaining secrecy. I wasn’t hiding, but that doesn’t mean I could afford to announce my presence.” She shook her head at that point. “After I found out that it was the Night Blades behind the attempt on my life, I headed here to deal with them.”
“How close did you get to their base?” Caleb asked.
“I couldn’t quite see it yet,” Katie admitted. “They had five assassins patrolling the tunnel that leads to their hideout, and they called for some backup when they saw me. I took out the first five assassins and seven of the ten that came as backup.”
“We’ve taken out forty-five of them together then,” Caleb said with a bit of confidence in his voice. “Nicolas said that they only have a hundred men, so they probably only have twenty-five to thirty-five at their base.”
“You want to deal with them now?” Katie asked in surprise.
“Yes,” Caleb answered. “We can deal with them together. It’ll be just like old times.”
“I don’t have any knives,” Katie said with a frown. “Knives are the only weapon that I really use, and without them, I’m kind of useless.”
“Assassins carry knives, don’t they,” Caleb asked with a thoughtful look on his face.
“Yeah, that’s how they injured me,” Katie said, confused. “I shouldn’t have pulled the knives out and tossed them to the ground when I ran away, but I didn’t think I’d live very long.”
“So if I killed all of the assassins outside of the base, then you would be able to take their knives off of their bodies and use them, right?” Caleb asked.
“I guess,” Katie answered with a frown. “But you’re not going to be able to take on all of the assassins that they keep outside of the base. They normally only keep a few from what I’ve heard, but they have to know you’re in the city by now. They probably searched for you on the surface immediately. After they didn’t find you, they’d bring all of their men in the city down to their base just in case. Their leader might be prideful, but he is also careful.”
“You worry too much,” Caleb said with a light smile. “Just trust me. We’re not going to die, and we’re not going to fail.”
“Okay,” Katie said after a few moments. “I know how to get to their base from here. I’ll take that torch and lead you there. I’ll hang back and let you deal with them since I don’t have a weapon yet.”
Caleb nodded, but then he stopped and looked down at his belt.
I don’t know if I should do this, but I want to.
He suddenly unbuckled his belt and slipped his knife off of it. He carefully buckled the belt back before he held out the sheathed knife.
“I want you to have my knife, just in case. My father gave me that knife for my birthday one year, and I want you to keep it on you for as long as we stand together,” Caleb said with a torrent of emotions in his eyes. “I’ll feel better if you have a knife that I know is dependable. It’s not like the knives you normally use, but it was made for stabbing and cutting, not throwing.”
Katie looked surprised at that, but she nodded her head and took the knife with an odd reverence. “Thank you for trusting me with this knife. I knew it meant a great deal to you. I saw your face when you found that knife on our trip to Caldreth after we met. You were so relieved to find out that you hadn’t lost it when you were captured by the slavers.”
She immediately went about attaching the knife’s sheath to her belt at her right hip.
Once it was done, she looked at Caleb and said, “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Don’t forget the torch,” Caleb said with a smile as he removed his bow from where it rested on his right shoulder and against his left side. “If we’re going to their base, then we better take away their biggest advantage.”
“I thought their biggest advantage was that they outnumber us,” Katie countered as she removed the torch from its spot on the wall.
“They outnumber us, but numbers aren’t everything,” Caleb said with a grin. “I thought I showed that to you when we took down Cain Fell and his Black Crows.”
“He had twenty-five men with him. Victor Abrams probably has at least thirty-five,” Katie argued.
“All I wanted was revenge last time,” Caleb said. “But this time, I’m going into the fight with a clear head… and twenty-five arrows.”
Chapter 10
“Are you sure we need this many people out here?” a man in his thirties with short brown hair and a goatee asked as he looked around. Like his comrades, he wore all black clothing and had on a black hooded cloak, though he was the only one without his hood on.
“Master Abrams commands and we obey,” one of them answered without even glancing at the hoodless man.
“But to have twenty-five men to take guard the entrance of the base, just in case one man shows up? That’s just not normal.”
“We do not question the orders of
Master Abrams,” the assassin said flatly. “The man that is believed to be headed here has been responsible for the deaths of thirty of our comrades. Even extraordinary measures are justified in this case.”
“Whatever you say,” the other assassin said with a sigh as he raised his hood. “I’ve just got a bad feeling about this.”
He had no idea how justified his bad feeling was until it was too late.
Suddenly, a light entered the tunnel up ahead of them, attracting their full attention.
The next thing he knew, a sharp pain shot through his neck and blood started rushing down his front. He knew that he would die shortly, and he could not even do anything to stop it.
* * * * *
“One,” Caleb said quietly as he nocked another arrow and drew it back. It had not been too difficult for him and Katie to find the group of twenty-five assassins that were guarding the entrance of the base. They were all armed with short swords, and Caleb could see that they each had a single knife at their belts. However, all the weapons in the world would not save them. There was still fifty yards between them, which meant that he had all the time he needed. So with that, he fired a second arrow.
Katie’s eyes went wide as she held the torch about five feet behind him. The sheer speed that he removed arrows from his quiver, nocked them, and fired them amazed her. At the rate they were going, he would be able to take them all down before they could get close to them.
Her attention suddenly moved to something else, causing her to draw the knife at her waist. She spun around Caleb, getting in front of him just in time to parry a thrown knife with the hunting knife. Just as quickly, she moved out of the way, allowing his shots to continue.
“Twenty-four,” Caleb said as he shot the assassin that had thrown a knife at him just below the sternum. He immediately nocked his final arrow, drew it back, and fired just as the last assassin came within five yards of him.
“Twenty-five,” Caleb said as he exhaled a deep breath. “Now, I’m out of arrows.”
“Caleb, that was amazing!” Katie exclaimed. “Since when have you been that good with a bow?”
“Always,” Caleb said with a smile. “I never really thought about using it in a fight until Nicolas told me how outnumbered I was with these guys. It’s come in handy so far.”
“It’s too bad you’re out of arrows,” Katie said with a frown. “It would come in handy with the ones inside.”
“We can handle them with knives and my sword,” Caleb said, a ghost of a frown appearing on his face at the last word. I have to avoid using the Sword of Kirakath’s magic. I can still use the sword as long as I don’t draw on its magic. If the bloodlust is that great when I’m not fighting, then it has to be overwhelming when I am.
“I’ll go and get their knives. I’m not sure how I’ll carry them all though,” Katie said as she moved forward.
“My quiver is empty, so you can put some of them in my quiver if you need to,” Caleb said as he set his bow on the ground, leaning it up against the wall. There’s no sense in bringing my bow into their base if I don’t have any arrows left. I’d hate for it to get broken or for it to slow me down.
Before long, Katie had five knives at her left hip, two knives at the back of her waist, and three knives at her right hip, along with the hunting knife that she kept there as well. The other fifteen knives were sheathed and in Caleb’s quiver.
“Are you ready to head to the base? We’re very close,” Katie asked as she tied her hair back with a strip of leather. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
“I’m ready too,” Caleb said with a nod of his head.
“Let’s go then,” Katie said as she made her way down the tunnel with the torch.
Right around the next bend, they saw a large metal door at the end of the tunnel.
“I think it’s safe to say that they are taking us seriously. I doubt that they’re just sitting in their rooms. I’m sure they’ll be ready for us,” Katie said seriously.
“Then let’s go and say hello,” Caleb said as he made his way to the door and drew his sword.
With that, he walked right up to the door, hit the side of his left fist against the door three times, and held his sword in his right hand right above his shoulder.
“What is it?” an assassin asked as he opened the door and stepped into the doorway. He just barely had time to process what was going on when Caleb went into action.
Caleb stepped forward and delivered a pommel strike to the assassin, dropping him to the ground like a stone. Immediately, Caleb entered the base and kicked the unconscious assassin off to the side.
He took in the sight before him as quickly as he could. It was a large plain room with large metal doors on each wall and torches hanging along the walls. However, his attention was on the eight assassins that were standing in the room, looking towards them.
Katie was right. They were prepared for me. I doubt they expected both of us to show up though.
He quickly brought his blade down in a vicious arc, forcing an assassin that had attempted to attack him to block it. With the assassin’s short sword occupied, Caleb kicked him in the kneecap as hard as he could.
The assassin dropped his sword as he began to fall to the ground in agony. Before he could hit the ground, Caleb hit him with a pommel strike in the side of the head, causing him to be unconscious when he hit the ground.
“Don’t worry about those two,” he muttered under his breath. “We’ll need to find out who hired them to kill us, and you never know if their leader will part with that information willingly.”
“Right,” Katie said as she tossed the torch behind her and drew two knives from her belt.
She quickly threw one of her knives with a side arm throw, sending it straight at the nearest assassin. It sunk to the handle in his stomach, causing him to stumble a bit. However, she was not done. She had tossed the second knife to her right hand and had thrown it as well. Its blade was immediately buried in the same assassin’s throat. Either one of the knives would have killed him, but their combination succeeded in killing him quicker.
With that assassin taken care of, Caleb began to rush forward with his sword ready to strike.
Despite not being exceptionally talented with his sword, Caleb was able to take down the next assassin with a single swing. The assassin in question had held up a knife to block the sword strike, but the momentum that Caleb built up by swinging the sword over his head and down on top of the assassin just pushed it down. By the end of it, the knife and Caleb’s sword were both cutting into him.
Caleb pulled his sword from the assassin’s shoulder and cut his head from his body with a swing. As easy as that short fight had seemed, Caleb was tired. Firing twenty-five arrows rapidly had left his right arm sore, and fighting several enemies immediately after was incredibly tiring. Resisting the temptation to draw on his sword’s magic was the worst part though. He knew that it would make the fights so much easier, but he also knew that something had happened to the sword’s magic that made it unsafe to use.
Not that it was all that safe to use in the first place.
Shaking his head, he saw three knives hit an assassin that was only a few yards away in the stomach.
Damn, I better stop getting distracted.
Caleb dashed towards one of the assassins that were moving to meet him, causing the assassin in question to hesitate. It was all the time he needed to plunge his sword through the chest of the assassin.
As he withdrew it, he saw that Katie had used her knives to take care of the others.
Suddenly, their attention turned to the door opposite of the base’s entrance.
A man in his mid-thirties with short black hair and green eyes walked through the metal door. He wore black leather boots, a pair of black trousers, a short sleeve black tunic, and a pair of gloves. In each hand, he held a finely crafted short sword.
“You’ve made a mess of my base,” he said casually as he shook his head. “I was a fool not to
send Azrael after you. He would have enjoyed the challenge of fighting you. After all, you have to be fairly good to take out all but twenty of my men.”
“How does it feel to see the mighty Night Blades reduced to such a small number?” Katie asked as she held a knife in her hand. “They were once the greatest assassins in the land, and now they are so few that they cannot even be considered a threat.”
“I’m disappointed in their lack of ability,” Victor Abrams admitted. “However, they were a disgrace to the Night Blades if they could fall so easily. Their replacements will be pushed even harder to ensure that this does not happen a second time.”
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 25