Vincent, on the other hand, fought like a ghost. With incredible speed and agility, he danced around his enemies. His moves were unpredictable and he constantly struck where his enemies had no armor to protect them. Caleb highly suspected that his scimitar could have cut through their leather armor with ease, but they died just as easily.
The fighting between the guards and the bandits that attempted to avoid Sir Edmond and Vincent was far more gruesome. None of the guards had half the skill that their leaders had, but it was enough to ensure that far more bandits than guards died.
Katie helped the guards on that end as well. She threw her knives with lethal precision at the bandits when she saw openings. She had to be careful though. She had to make sure none of them were about to step in front of the path of her knives before she threw. It would have been too easy to accidentally hit one of the guards by accident.
Caleb clenched his fists as he noticed something that he had not expected.
Isaac Abrams was gone.
He could actually see the man, but he was riding down the road on the back of his horse. Away from Laus.
He had abandoned his men when he saw what he was up against.
“Abrams fled!” he yelled as loudly as he could. He knew that Isaac would hear him. It was not a surprise when Isaac ignored the yell and continued down the road, but it did serve another purpose.
The bandits’ morale dropped the moment they heard that their leader had chosen to abandon them rather than aid them or call for a retreat.
Their lowered morale was not a factor for long though. Sir Edmond and Vincent cut the rest of them down before they had much time to think about what had just happened.
After ten minutes from start to finish, the battle had come to a conclusion.
“Don’t even think about it,” Katie remarked as she looked at Caleb with her piercing emerald eyes. “You haven’t recovered enough to chase him down without a horse of your own, and he would be long gone by the time you had a horse ready.”
“I know,” he sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point. “Let’s go down and see the others.”
He began down the ladder without looking to see her response.
It did not take him long to reach the gates, but he did not know if he was thankful for that or not. The results of the battle stood before him, and they were not the most pleasant results that he could have imagined.
The corpses of nearly eighty men lay before him. The majority of them were bandits, but he saw seven fallen guards.
A surge of guilt rose up inside of him suddenly. So many people had died because he and Nicolas had not given themselves up. He knew that it was irrational. People like Isaac were untrustworthy and were unlikely to honor any deals. Truthfully, he felt no guilt for anyone but the seven dead guards, the two dead sentries, and the wounded. He could not help but feel that the bandits deserved it. The others most certainly did not though.
“We can’t leave the island after you finish your training,” Katie said quietly, breaking his train of thought. “We cannot leave until we end this. As long as the Isle of Akabar is ruled by people like Abrams, there will be more senseless death like this.”
Before he could respond, he saw Sir Edmond walk towards him, carefully avoiding the corpses.
“Caleb,” he said as he stopped before him. “I am afraid that I will be unable to finish your training.” He quickly removed his belt once the words were spoken. His sheathed sword was attached to it.
“What are you talking about?” Caleb asked, panic clear in his voice. That news, combined with what he saw before him, was overwhelming. Katie’s hand on his shoulder was the only thing that kept him steady.
“The bonds between my soul and this golem are breaking as we speak,” he answered simply. “I apologize for being forced to leave you before you have been fully trained, but this is the way things happen sometimes. I have every confidence that you will succeed in mastering the Blood of Kirakath without me though.”
Caleb’s eyes dropped to the ground. He was at a loss for words. As surprising as he would have found it at one time, he had come to greatly enjoy Sir Edmond’s company and presence. He had known that Sir Edmond would pass on at some point, but he had thought that it would be years. Truthfully, the idea of losing his mentor had not truly sunk in. After Hector’s disappearance, it had been too painful to consider.
“Caleb, this is my last request. Always follow your heart and be true to yourself. You have a great destiny before you, but you will not succeed if you try to change who you are.”
Caleb reached out and took the belt from Sir Edmond. His eyes were focused on his ancestor as he spoke the last words he would ever say to him. “I will do it. I hope you rest in peace and see your family on the other side. Thank you for everything.”
“Thank you as well, Caleb. I could not have chosen a more perfect successor than you,” Sir Edmond said as he stood up straight. As soon as he was standing at his full height, he turned rigid. With a small flash of light, Sir Edmond’s spirit separated from the golem. It was only visible for a moment before it disappeared.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Caleb said under his breath as he stared at the golem. It still looked like a statue of him, as it had ever since Sir Kirakath possessed it.
“He knew before the battle that it would happen,” Vincent said as he walked up to them. “He told me after he sent you up to the sentry tower. I believe that the only one he informed other than me was the Witch of Akabar.”
Caleb shook his head, not wishing to think about it. “How are the men?”
“We lost nine men in total. None of the survivors were seriously injured. I’d say that the worst injury was on a sentry. Thankfully, the Witch of Akabar is good at healing,” Vincent answered with mixture of relief and sadness in his voice. “We will not have time to mourn our losses though. I know that Isaac did not bring all of his forces with him. If we’re lucky, that was half of them. He’s not foolish though. He won’t try a straightforward attack with his forces again.”
“What will he do?” Katie asked.
“I suspect that he will attempt to form an alliance with some other factions on the island. Where seventy bandits failed, five hundred or more would succeed. With Sir Edmond and nine of our men gone, we would have even less of a chance,” Vincent answered in a grim tone.
“If we waited for them to attack, that’s probably what would happen,” Nicolas agreed as he walked up to them. “Caleb is very talented at attacking people at their headquarters though.”
Vincent looked startled as he understood what Nicolas was implying.
“That is suicide,” he argued fiercely.
“No, it is not,” Abigail said as she made her presence known. “It did not take me long to heal the wounded, and I overheard what you four are discussing. I believe that it would be a very good idea. It is only suicide if we do it recklessly.”
“We?”
The question came from Caleb, Katie, and Nicolas simultaneously.
Abigail nodded with a firm look in her eyes. As she spoke, her voice carried a sense of finality to it. “I wish to assist you in this endeavor. I know more about this island than you do, and it will assist you greatly.”
“Do you have any other reasons for agreeing to come with us?” Caleb asked cautiously.
“Yes, I do,” she admitted reluctantly. “However, you are not ready to hear that reason at the moment. Once we are done, I will explain everything to you. What I have to say will be difficult to hear. Difficult and painful.”
Caleb stared at her for a long moment. He wanted to reject her offer unless she told him the truth. But he also knew that there was some truth in her words. Her assistance would be invaluable. “Fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “We’ll leave tomorrow at midday.”
“So soon?” Vincent asked in concern.
“We have to act fast. I’d leave tomorrow morning if we didn’t need the rest, but that’s something that we rea
lly need,” Caleb answered with a firm look in his eyes. He then glanced at the golem. “Any ideas on what we should do about that?”
“I will take care of it,” Abigail answered with a nod. “I would like to study it when there is time. With a golem that was created by Archmage Kyran, I may be able to learn something from it.”
“When there’s time,” Caleb agreed. From the looks of it, Vincent had been about to vehemently refuse her request.
“We should get some rest then,” Nicolas said, looking to Katie. “I get the feeling that we’re going to go for a long walk.”
Nods of agreement came from the three others that were to take part in the journey.
With that, Caleb, Katie, Nicolas, and Abigail made their way to Vincent’s manor to get some rest.
Amazingly, Vincent did not even try to argue anymore that night.
Chapter 11
Early the next morning, Caleb was nearly finished getting ready for the trip to Caer. His last order of business was to stock his quiver full of arrows. It was most fortunate that Vincent had given him permission to take all the arrows he would need from the armory. It would have been difficult to get all that he needed otherwise.
He quickly filled his quiver with three dozen arrows. It was a tight fit, but the quiver still accommodated them well enough.
“Raiding the armory, are we?” a familiar voice came from the door as he finished refilling his quiver.
With a start, Caleb spun around and looked at the speaker. Words failed him at once, and his eyes grew wide. It was a man with chestnut brown hair, forest green eyes, and a rough beard. Clad in brown leathers and a forest green cloak, he looked as he had the last time he saw him.
It was Hector Green, Caleb’s first mentor.
“It has been too long, Caleb,” he remarked with a small smile. “From the looks of things, I arrived just in time. I was afraid that you would be gone by the time I showed up.”
Caleb wanted to say so many things, but the words that escaped his mouth were not the words he had planned on speaking.“What are you doing here?”
“While you were assassinating a certain count, I was approaching Kirakath… or what used to be Kirakath. I immediately decided to visit my old friends Jason Edge and Eric White to find out what was going on. Can you imagine my surprise when I learned that Kirakath was massacred, you obtained the Sword of Kirakath, you slew the Black Crows, you brought an end to the Night Blades, and you killed the Count of Caldreth? Hearing that you had sought refuge here of all places was just as unexpected though.”
In that moment, Caleb was not sure what he wanted to say. He wanted to know how Hector had been since his disappearance, but his deeply ingrained habits of being polite and respectful to his mentor urged him to be patient. In the end, he decided to do just that.
“I don’t imagine you would have ever expected it,” Caleb remarked, shaking his head. “I didn’t expect to see you either. This is the last place I would have thought either of us would be, but things have changed.”
“Indeed,” Hector agreed with a grimace. “I’m sorry about what happened to Kirakath. If I had been there, things wouldn’t have happened like that.”
“It’s in the past, and you can’t change what happened,” Caleb said, shaking his head. “Kyran knows I thought about it enough. In the end, it just doesn’t matter.”
Hector let out a short, bitter laugh at that. “I understand what you mean well enough. You aren’t the only one to lose their family in a manner like that. That’s why I left. Before I came to Kirakath, I lost my village as well. I left because a lead was found, and I was finally given the chance to avenge them. I only wish that it had not taken so long.”
Caleb instantly saw that Hector did not wish to discuss the matter, so he changed the subject. “Do you want to hear about everything that’s happened since you left?”
He nodded eagerly, seeming to be pleased by the idea.
So Caleb began to tell his story as he led Hector out of the armory. He began with the time before Kirakath was massacred and moved on through his adventures. Hector seemed very interested at hearing about Caleb meeting Lance White, besting the griffin outside of Draesa, defeating Sir Edmond’s specter with the Sword of Kirakath, defeating the Black Crows, dealing with the Night Blades, sneaking into Castle Caldreth, helping to cleanse the Blood of Kirakath, and aiding in the defense of Laus.
What he seemed most interested in, however, was hearing about Caleb’s friendships, his struggles with the Blood of Kirakath, and him awakening his gift of prophecy.
It took nearly two hours to tell Hector everything, but it felt nice finally talking about everything to someone.
Once he finished telling Hector everything, his mentor clapped a hand on his shoulder.
“You have been through some very harrowing ordeals. I am not surprised to hear that you have triumphed though. The moment that I saw you, I knew that you were special. I thought part of it was the blood that you carried. Before I left Calia, I was part of the Order of Kyran, so I knew about the ties between Kyran and Kirakath. But what makes you special isn’t anything that you inherited. It’s the actions of a person that defines them, not their abilities.”
Caleb’s eyes fell to the ground as he took in what he was told. What have I really done but bring about death? Only a few didn’t deserve it, but does that really make a difference?
“I had that look on my face the first time I really thought about all the lives I had ended,” Hector said as he stared at Caleb. “I want you to know something though. Sir Edmond, the Knight of Kirakath, became a hero in Arcadia because he took prophecy from the world and made it possible to rebel. He was made an even greater hero because he killed thousands of Calians. Not all of them were soldiers, either. Many only fought because they were forced to. The most revered man in the history of the known world, Archmage Kyran, is not any better either. He united a thousand nations into a single empire. Only a handful joined him peacefully. The rest suffered great casualties. Even after the actions of both of those men, they were seen as heroes by their people. I don’t know if what they did was right or wrong. What I do know is that the world would be a worse place if they did not do what they did.”
“I can see what you mean,” Caleb said with a brief smile. He saw the point that Hector made, but it did not comfort him as much as it would have at one time.
“Caleb, are you getting ready?”
Caleb looked up as Katie approached him. Her eyes flickered to Hector as she came within a dozen feet of him.
“I’m done already. I was just catching up with my old teacher. Katie, this is Hector Green,” Caleb said gesturing to him. “Hector, this is Katie. She’s one of my friends.”
“It is nice to meet you, Katie,” Hector greeted with a short bow.
Katie looked startled by the revelation of who Caleb had been talking to, though she quickly masked her features. “The same to you as well, Hector. I was not aware that you were coming here. Vincent mentioned that he received word from Eric about you, but he never said you would be coming to the island.”
That was not something that Caleb was happy to hear. No one had mentioned anything about Hector to him. Apparently, Katie picked up on the way he was looking at her.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I completely forgot about it with everything that’s been going on. Yesterday was the first time I had seen you since I found out,” Katie quickly explained with a hint of urgency in her voice.
“It is fine,” Caleb said with a shake of his head. “It doesn’t really matter. He’s here now, so no harm done.”
Katie did not even try to stop the relief from showing in her eyes. She looked to Hector before she spoke again. “Is he coming with us?”
Caleb looked surprised at the question, but he knew that it was not a bad idea. Cain Fell’s bandit camp, the Night Blades’ headquarters, and Castle Caldreth were much simpler to deal with than where they were going. Hector’s skills would be very beneficial
in Caer.
“You’re going to Caer to deal with Isaac Abrams, are you not?” Hector asked curiously. He received a nod from Katie in response before he spoke again. “I would not mind accompanying you then. If he is not dealt with quickly, there will be trouble. It will save me the trouble of finding you once this is taken care of as well.”
Caleb looked at him curiously as he finished speaking, but he quickly dismissed the question from his mind. There was nothing odd about Hector wanting to make sure he could find him after they were done. “I’d appreciate it. We’ll be leaving in a little more than an hour. We’ll all be meeting at the front gates then.”
“Very well,” Hector said with a slight nod. “I look forward to seeing you use that bow of yours. I hope that you have not allowed your skills with it to digress.”
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 40