Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1)

by Billings, Ryne

  “If we’re each asking a question, then that means it’s my turn,” Katie said after a moment of silence. “What is it that you intend for us to do here? You mentioned wanting to teach Caleb, but even I can tell that there’s more to it. You forbade him from using the Blood of Kirakath because of how tainted it has become, and you have avoided the subject of what the Sword of Kirakath can actually do every time Caleb’s asked.”

  “She’s sharp,” Vincent chuckled. “That’s to be expected of her though.” He gave her a knowing look as soon as the words were out of his mouth, causing panic to be seen in her eyes. “You’ll find that the Order of Kyran is very knowledgeable.”

  “Don’t unnerve them too much,” Sir Edmond chastised, though amusement could be heard in his voice. He then looked to Katie. “I will answer your question. I have no designs for you or your old friend, though I have coerced Vincent into agreeing to train both of you.”

  Katie and Nicolas both looked stunned to hear that. They had expected to have to work on their own to improve their abilities. Being trained by the greatest blademaster in Arcadia was the last thing that they had expected.

  “You two must not leave this manor while you are trained. If anyone learns you are here, you will not enjoy the consequences,” Sir Edmond said, his tone grave. “Alexander and Victor were not the only Abrams brothers. The final brother- and the worst of the three from what I’ve been told- lives on the southern side of the island. If Isaac Abrams learns that Caleb and Nicolas are on the island, he will not rest until he has them both. He likely won’t kill them. If what I’ve been told is true, then death would be a reprieve from a man like him.”

  Caleb doubted that Katie would have been overlooked by a man like that. Victor Abrams might not have died by her hand, but he would have survived if she had not helped Caleb when they fought. Deep down, he knew why Sir Edmond did not mention Isaac wanting to hunt Katie. Her fate would have been far worse than his or Nicolas’s.

  “While you two are being trained by him, I will take Caleb away from here. I had intended to fix the taint that Caleb imposed upon the Blood of Kirakath by healing you. It would be a simple thing, and it would remove the overwhelming bloodlust. From there, I planned to teach him to use the Blood of Kirakath and the Sword of Kirakath as they were meant to be used.”

  “What changed?” she asked with a slight frown. It had always bothered her to hear that the Blood of Kirakath was further tainted by Caleb healing her from the brink of death.

  “I no longer have any need to partially cleanse the taint from the Blood of Kirakath,” Sir Edmond replied with a jovial tone. “Instead, I intend to see to it that it is fully cleansed, as it was before the Arcadian Rebellion. When we return, his training will be over and the Blood of Kirakath will never cause bloodlust again.”

  With those words, he rose to his feet and turned back to the door. “Caleb, be ready to leave as dawn. We have a journey ahead of us tomorrow.”

  Caleb simply nodded and began to eat some more soup.

  Chapter 3

  “Where exactly are we going?”

  Sir Edmond looked at Caleb impassively upon hearing the question. He thought he detected a hint of amusement from the deceased knight, but he dismissed the notion as soon as it arose. Detecting any form of emotion from him was only possible when he spoke.

  “I was wondering when you would ask,” Sir Edmond commented without looking towards him. “You lasted longer than I expected.”

  They had left Laus at dawn while everyone else was sleeping, and Sir Edmond had not told him where they were going. It was only after midday had passed that Caleb chose to ask. Part of it was out of curiosity, but an even larger part of him was bored from the hours of walking through the forest. Boredom was the only issue he had to deal with at the moment. Sir Edmond had made sure to bring water and food so they did not have to stop for any reason but exhaustion.

  “We are going to Mount Akabar,” Sir Edmond explained after a moment of silence. “Close to the summit, there is a temple. It is the home of the Witches of Akabar.”

  “You mentioned them yesterday,” Caleb recalled.

  “I did,” he agreed. “I said I would tell you about them if they were still around, so I will do exactly that.”

  His head turned to Caleb for a short moment before he spoke again.

  “The Isle of Akabar was the last part of the known world to become part of the Kyran Empire, and that was only after Archmage Kyran personally visited the coven of witches that ruled it. It is said that he made a deal with them. I do not know if it’s true, but it does make one thing clear. The Witches of Akabar have been around since before the Empire formed.”

  He paused to allow that information to sink in before he continued on.

  “Five hundred years ago, I came to this island to request the help of the Witches of Akabar in the Arcadian Rebellion. There were twenty-five of them at the time. I am familiar with magic and those who wield it, but I had never interacted with a group of magic users of such power before I met them. Each one was more powerful than any of the witches and wizards that served the Calian Empire or the Arcadian Resistance. I immediately understood why Prince Arcacius wished for them to join our side. They refused to help us directly, but they did offer us a compromise. We could use their natural resources as we wished, so long as we granted them the right of sovereignty once we won.”

  “I can see how that would be useful,” Caleb remarked as he looked at the great abundance of trees around him. “But didn’t you say they were ruled by bandits in your time.”

  “Northport was larger in my time, and it was ruled by a count. The rest of the island was controlled by bandits, however. The Witches of Akabar were considered to be criminals by the Empire. If they saw a woman being treated… wrongly, then they would step in. Often, they used lethal force. All it took was a few coins to change hands, and the either the count or the magistrate would declare that it was a brutal, unprovoked attack,” he said with a great deal of disgust in his voice. “But that’s not a subject we need to continue on for now. You needed to know that before I told you why I am taking you to the Witches of Akabar.”

  Caleb looked expectant upon hearing those words. He had to admit that the subject at hand was very interesting in his opinion, but he was more curious about why he was going there than anything else.

  “The Witches of Akabar can remove the taint from the Blood of Kirakath. It’s something they know how to do.”

  In that moment, Caleb wanted to ask why he had not asked them to remove the taint when he was alive, but there was something in Sir Edmond’s voice that unnerved him.

  “I would ask that you refrain from asking any questions about the Blood of Kirakath or the Sword of Kirakath until after the taint is cleansed. I will explain them when I begin training you in their use.”

  “Very well,” Caleb agreed. Naturally, he had been about to ask about both of those subjects. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me what your biggest sin was, would you? Clovis mentioned it right before I killed him.”

  Those words made Sir Edmond come to a complete stop.

  “Tell me something,” Sir Edmond said, his voice low. “If I can remove the taint that comes from using the Blood of Kirakath to heal someone from the brink of death, what do you think it would take to make it so tainted that it exceeds my abilities to remove and lasts for five hundred years?”

  Caleb felt his throat go dry, unable to even imagine what could have caused such a thing.

  “I see no point in telling half of a story. Until you understand how both the Blood of Kirakath and the Sword of Kirakath work, a detailed explanation would not benefit you,” Sir Edmond said as he calmed down. He immediately began walking again. It was clear that he was not in the mood for a conversation anymore.

  * * * * *

  The sun was setting when Caleb and Sir Edmond reached their destination. It would have taken longer to travel up the mountain to reach the temple than that, but th
e path that led up to it was very well maintained.

  The temple itself looked ancient beyond years. Rising from the almost barren mountaintop, the faded white stone building looked both rustic and majestic. Surrounded by short grass, the temple stood out in the summer time. In winter, it would no doubt be more difficult to see because of the snow. Naturally, he was assuming that it snowed on top of the mountain, but it did not seem to be much of a stretch. Since coming to the island, he had noticed that it was cooler than it was on the mainland.

  “The temple is capable of housing a hundred witches from what I was told,” Sir Edmond remarked as he walked with Caleb up to the stone doors at the front of the temple. He easily opened the doors. Caleb idly wondered if it took his unnatural strength to do so.

  “That is correct.”

  Caleb took a step back in surprise. At the other end of the bare entrance hall, he saw a young woman. Her sudden appearance may have been what initially caused his surprise, but it was her physical appearance continued it. She stood a few hands short of her with a very lean built. With curly stark white hair that fell to her shoulders, ashen white skin, and eyes the color of crimson, she looked as distinctive as a person could be. Clad in onyx robes with crimson trim and holding an ebony staff that was as tall as Caleb was, he instinctively knew that she was one of the Witches of Akabar.

  “It has been years since intruders have come,” she remarked, staring at Sir Edmond intently.

  “Greetings to you, Abigail,” Sir Edmond said calmly. “I apologize for my rude interruption, but our need was great. As soon as Vincent told me that you were the last of your coven, I knew I could not delay.”

  “Sir Edmond, the Knight of Kirakath,” she remarked as her eyes began to glow eerily. “I am surprised that you were able to pass through the wards. Spirits should not be able to come near this temple, and yet you are here.”

  “This golem was created by Archmage Kyran. Miscalculations from him are almost as rare as archmages,” Sir Edmond replied pleasantly. “You know why we have come, do you not?”

  “You have come to have the taint removed from the Blood of Kirakath,” Abigail stated, looking at Caleb. “When I was inducted into the coven, I was told of our duty. None of them believed that I would ever meet the true wielder of the Sword of Kirakath in my lifetime, but when the others were murdered, I suspected I would. It was said that you would come when the Witches of Akabar were all but destroyed.”

  For a moment, Caleb felt his curiosity grow. Questions of how Abigail knew what she did filled his head. He quickly suppressed such urges, however. It was not important at the moment. “Can you do it?”

  “Archmage Kyran gave the Witches of Akabar a tome of magic. In that tome, it explains how to remove the taint from the Blood of Kirakath. Even then, he knew that it would be tainted, so he acted to ensure that someone would be around to fix it,” Abigail explained patiently.

  She then turned to look at Sir Edmond. Her eyes were devoid of patience or kindness.

  “He never told them how the taint would come about. If he had, they would have demanded that he destroy the Sword of Kirakath. By the time they found out, they could do nothing. You refused to allow them to remove the taint, and they could not force you to accept.”

  “What are you talking about?” Caleb demanded, looking between Abigail and Sir Edmond.

  “Oh, you haven’t told him?” Abigail asked in an icy tone. She turned to Caleb with an impassive expression. “The Blood of Kirakath is resilient. If it is given time to recuperate, it will rid itself of any taint that afflicts it. You are no doubt wondering why the Blood of Kirakath is still tainted and only appears to be getting worse.”

  Caleb took a deep breath as he looked between Sir Edmond and Abigail. The former was looking at the ground, almost as if he was ashamed. Abigail was far from done, however.

  “Well, your ancestor used the Sword of Kirakath to sever the link between prophecy and the world. It was a foolish move, but it did not taint the Blood of Kirakath. No, it only became tainted because he did something even more monumentally stupid. He used the Blood of Kirakath to essentially form a barrier between prophecy and the world. He knew he could not sever the link permanently with the sword’s magic, but the Blood of Kirakath was strong enough. As a result, he tainted the Blood of Kirakath by using it to hold prophecy back from returning to the world.”

  “Shouldn’t it have stopped holding it back when he died?” Caleb asked in confusion. The question itself was a small part of his confusion. What Abigail spoke of… it was very difficult to comprehend. To hear that Sir Edmond had severed the link that connected prophecy and the world was nothing short of astounding.

  “It would have… if his children had been born before he did it. Instead, his son and daughter were born afterwards. The tainted Blood of Kirakath was passed on to both of them. The Blood of Kirakath within them saw the barrier as its responsibility. You could say that it was an inheritance of sorts,” Abigail explained with a derisive snort. “It was possible for him to repair the taint until he had children. At that point, it was too powerful for anyone but the Witches of Akabar to cleanse.”

  “Why?” Caleb asked, his eyes focused intently on Sir Edmond. “Why did you do it?”

  “You have no idea what it was like,” Sir Edmond said softly. “A tyrant sat on the throne of the Empire, and slavery and corruption thrived. Nothing could be done about it because a group of over thirty men could see into the future frequently, and they acted in their own best interests. It is not a coincidence that the Arcadian Rebellion started within days of my actions.”

  “As a witch, I cannot agree with you removing such a powerful form of magic from the world. I can certainly understand why you did it, however,” Abigail stated. “But my intent is not to cause an argument. It is necessary to bring this up for one simple reason.”

  “Cleansing the taint will return prophecy back to the world, won’t it?” Caleb said, his eyes widening. He was startled by the revelation, but it made sense. The Blood of Kirakath was prevented from being cleansed because it constantly kept prophecy from returning to the world, so cleansing it would naturally require the barrier to be removed.

  “You are perceptive,” Abigail remarked as she stared at him curiously. “Yes, I will have to remove the barrier before I can cleanse the taint.”

  “If prophecy is returned to the world, things may become worse. Are you willing to risk such a thing?” Sir Edmond asked without any trace of emotion in his voice.

  Caleb had already considered that question, but he thought of it in a way that made it even more difficult to answer. By accepting, he would be free of bloodlust at the cost of possibly returning things to how it was before the Arcadian Rebellion. By refusing it, he could potentially be overwhelmed with bloodlust and lose all control over himself.

  Agreeing sounded very selfish in his opinion.

  Even as he came to that conclusion, there was something that stopped him from refusing.

  Recently, he had done a great deal of thinking, and certain things had begun to bother him. King Andrew’s sudden death six years earlier, Hector’s sudden disappearance over a year ago, the destruction of Kirakath, and Count Clovis attempting to have Caleb killed under the order of his mysterious master were a few of the more noteworthy clues in his opinion. Either something big was going on, or he was getting paranoid.

  “I don’t think I have a choice,” Caleb said wryly.

  “Do not listen to your ancestor,” Abigail remarked. “He condemns prophecy for how it was used in his day, but it is nothing more than a tool. Should all daggers be destroyed simply because one was used to take the life of a child? To blame the tool for the actions of its wielder is foolish.”

  Caleb could not deny that she had a point. His father had been killed by many arrows, but he still carried a bow.

  “What must be done?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

  “That is where we run into a problem,” Abigail said sheepis
hly. “The tome that I need to cleanse the Blood of Kirakath was stolen several decades ago by a necromancer. Several attempts to reclaim it have been made, but they have all ended in failure. I know exactly where it is, and I know for certain that it cannot be opened by anyone on the island other than us. As you are a direct descendent of Archmage Kyran, the man that wrote and enchanted the tome, and I am a Witch of Akabar, the tome’s enchantments would only allow us to open it.”

  Caleb looked started at that announcement. His mouth opened, but no words came out of it. There was no mistaking it. Abigail had stated that he was a direct descendent of Kyran. He had been told that the only direct descendents of his left were King John and Princess Eliza, the only children of the late King Andrew.

  “Things are never simple,” Sir Edmond remarked, shaking his head. “I would prefer that he not have to deal with mages in combat until I train him, but I cannot do that until the taint is cleansed. Naturally, the taint cannot be cleansed until he defeats a mage in combat. He could steal the tome, I suppose, but it would be much more difficult.”