“I’ll figure it out in the morning. He didn’t tell us where it is, after all,” Katie replied.
With that, they retired for the night.
Chapter 16
“It’s time,” Caleb said as he stood in his room in the early morning. He could not help but feel like a new man. After being trapped underground for three days and sleeping on a stone floor, he had soaked his sore body, gotten a good night’s rest, and was clad in a clean suit of clothes. Only one thing about him looked different. He now wore all black attire due to the fact that Nicolas had only given him a single blue tunic the first night that he was at the inn.
Black’s a color of mourning, Caleb thought with a nod as he made his way to the door. Pulling it open, he was surprised to see Katie leaning against the wall in front of his door. Her eyes were trained on him.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, making eye contact with her. Though it seemed that her sharp eyes could see straight into his soul, he did not even flinch.
“Caleb, what happened to you?” Katie asked quietly, breaking eye contact. “I don’t like what’s happening to you. Why do you have to keep shutting yourself down?”
“What are you talking about?” Caleb asked, sincerely confused. “How am I shutting myself down?”
“You keep suppressing your emotions,” Katie answered immediately. “I can understand putting reason before emotion, but you’re not doing that at all. You’re denying that you even have emotions. I can see it, and you could too if you weren’t blinding yourself.”
Caleb looked away from her at that. “I’m not denying that I have emotions. They’re just not that important.”
“They make you human,” Katie said sharply, making her companion wince.
I told Lance the same thing, he thought as the memories of his second test came flashing back. I hate to admit it, but she’s right. I can’t keep this up.
“We’ll talk about this more later,” Caleb said, clearing his throat. “We need to talk about where we’re going from here first.”
“Agreed,” Katie said with narrowed eyes.
“We need to head to the ruins of a city called Draesa. It’s located in the Skyfell Mountains… somewhere,” Caleb said as he looked at her seriously. “I was too tired yesterday, so I didn’t think to ask for the exact location of Draesa.”
“I know where it is,” Katie said immediately. “Draesa is something of an open secret. Its location is well-known, but no one goes there. Draesa has been in ruins for something like seven hundred years, so it’s not as if there is any loot to be gained.”
“The Sword of Kirakath is there,” Caleb said with a small amount of satisfaction. “It’s in the throne room.”
“Are you sure?” Katie asked, her mind processing the implications of it.
“Lance was sure,” Caleb said, only realizing that he had used the other blond’s name after the words were out. “His family has safeguarded the secret of its location for five hundred years, and there was no hint of doubt in his words. It’s there.”
Katie pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Draesa isn’t a short ways away, and we’ll be in danger once we get close. They say that the Skyfell Mountains are home to a large number of creatures that would like nothing more than to pick the flesh from our bones.”
“Beautiful imagery,” Caleb remarked sarcastically. “You don’t know the full extent of the danger that the Skyfell Mountains pose though. My mentor spent an entire year in them. The stories he told me were bone chilling, to say the least.”
“Why would anyone do that?” Katie asked rhetorically, though she half expected him to answer.
He did not.
“We’re going to need horses,” Katie said a few minutes later when she realized that he was not going to say anything further. “We still have forty crowns, so we’ll be able to get a pair easily.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Caleb asked as his left hand rested on the pommel of his sword and he slightly leaned forward.
“We need to tell Nicolas first,” Katie said as she raised a hand. “There’s no telling how long we’ll be gone, after all.”
Caleb nodded his head in understanding. Though the prospect had not crossed his mind, he could not deny its validity. “Let’s go tell him then.”
“Impatient, are we?” Katie asked with an arched eyebrow.
“Yes, I am,” Caleb agreed without hesitation. “The sun has set six times since my parents were murdered and my home destroyed, and the bastards that did it are still alive. The quicker we are about this, the sooner they die.”
“You realize that there’s no way that we’re going to get the sword and track them down in less than two weeks right? Come to think of it, three weeks would be pushing it,” Katie asked, her eyes locking with Caleb’s.
Anger flared behind Caleb’s brilliant blue eyes at those words. “If it takes that long, then so be it. It won’t be a result of me not trying though.”
Katie smiled at those words. “Glad to see that you can still feel something.”
With those words spoken, she turned and headed down the hall. Glancing over her shoulder, she asked, “Coming?”
“Do you need to ask?” Caleb muttered as he followed after her.
He barely heard her say, “Sometimes I wonder.”
Until they reached the tavern part of the inn, they did not speak another word.
However, upon seeing Nicolas behind the bar, Caleb asked, “Why are you always back there? You never have anyone here, but you’re always behind the bar. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Ah, but you’re failing to take everything into consideration,” Nicolas said with a sly grin. “I like to drink.”
Caleb stared at him blankly at those words. “That’s the best you can come up with?”
“It probably is,” Katie answered for him, walking towards her friend. “Nicolas, we need to get a move on. We’ll probably be back in a week or so.”
“Understood,” Nicolas said with a small nod. “When you get back, do you plan on hunting down the brigands that bear the mark of two crows pinned together by an arrow?”
“Yes,” Caleb answered without a hint of hesitation. That was to be expected by anyone that had known him for more than an hour though.
“I’ll see you then,” Nicolas said with a grin. “I recommend stopping by my stables first though. When Caleb showed up last night, I had two horses brought from the city’s stables. I figured you’d want to leave pretty quickly.”
“You’re a life saver,” Caleb said with a small smile. “I knew we could count on you.”
“That’s enough with the flattery,” Nicolas said with a serious expression upon his face. “Katie paid me five crowns the first night that you guys were here. Even with the new clothes, the horses, and the tack, you’ve only used up two of the crowns. As I see it, I still owe you.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Caleb said, his expression not changing at all as he heard the admission. “You’re a business man. You’ve made that clear, so what does it matter if we give you money? It doesn’t change your actual reasons for doing this.”
“And why do I do this?” Nicolas asked, curious as to what Caleb truly thought.
“You do this because Katie is your friend, and she wants to help me because I saved her life,” Caleb said matter-of-factly. “There’s also the fact that you think I’m a better friend than enemy.”
“You’re perceptive,” Nicolas complimented. “Now get a move on. I have some things I need to do. After all, I can’t exactly meet with my clients while you two are around.”
With a small laugh, Caleb walked back through the door and made his way to the stables towards the back of the inn. He still remembered where Katie had said that they were.
It only took a minute to reach the stables, and Caleb immediately saw that there were four stalls. Only one of them was empty. In the first stall, there was a solid white horse. In the second, there was a black and white paint. In t
he third, there was a dark brown horse with a thick white blaze upon its face.
“You can take the paint,” Katie mused. “They’re stubborn and rough. I’m sure you’ll be able to relate.”
“Whatever you say,” Caleb said as he walked over to one of the saddles that had been hung from the wall perpendicular to the stalls. “Now, would you be so kind as to show me how to put this thing on a horse. I’ve never had a horse before.”
Katie shot him a look of disbelief before she remembered that he was from a small village.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” she said as she walked over to the stall. “You do know how to ride one though, right?”
“Yeah, my best friend taught me,” Caleb said, looking away from her.
I wish you were here, Gabriel, he thought before he carried the saddle over to the stall to begin his lesson.
Chapter 17
We’re making progress, Caleb thought as the sound of rushing water became clearer and louder. They had left the inn the morning before, and unless they had taken the wrong path, the Skyfell River was just up ahead.
I wish we were there already though, he thought, slightly shaking his head. He knew that they were using the quickest route, despite the fact that it took them a pretty good distance out of the way. After all, they could not cross the Skyfell River without using the only bridge north of where the Caer River branched off.
He frowned when he remembered his objection to going so far out of the way to use the bridge. It seemed that he was completely incapable of thinking clearly. The difficulties of crossing the strong, wide river on horseback had not crossed his mind until Katie had pointed it out.
Why do I have to keep being an idiot? He shook his head bitterly as he slowly pulled the reigns of his mare back.
“Katie, let’s stop for the night,” he said as his mare dropped from a canter to a walk.
The redhead looked back at him immediately, bringing her brown mare to a walk as well. The look she gave him questioned his motives.
“We still have a few hours of daylight,” she said carefully. “Are you sure you want to stop?”
Caleb nodded his head in response. “Can’t you see the clearing up ahead? Can’t you hear that sound? We’re not far from the river.”
“We are,” Katie agreed, ignoring the questions. “I thought you’d insist that we hurry up though.”
Caleb frowned at that. It was hard to hear those words, especially since he knew that she was only being honest.
“I would like to get there soon, but I’m also hungry and would like to stop before it’s too dark to catch anything.”
“It’s good to see you’re capable of rational thought,” Katie remarked.
“I’m bound to get it right once in a while,” Caleb retorted, getting frustrated with her. “What is your problem? You’re nice one minute, and you’re hostile the next.”
Katie looked taken aback by his words. In fact, she looked as though she had just been slapped.
“Is that what you think?” she asked quietly, looking down at the mane of her horse. “I suppose I am a bit hard on you.”
“You’re still mad at me for disappearing for three days, aren’t you?” Caleb asked suddenly. By the look on her face, he could tell that he had struck a nerve. “No, you’re mad at me for not telling you what happened.”
Exhaling deeply, Katie looked at him with a sharp glare. “Fine, I’m still angry at you for not telling me where you were. You won’t even talk about what happened.”
Caleb slid off of his saddle at that point and used his reigns as a lead rope. “If you want to talk, come with me.”
With that, he walked down the road with his mare towards the clearing that was only about an eighth of a mile up the road.
Sighing, Katie slid off of her saddle and did the same, walking next to him and his horse.
They walked in silence until they reached the clearing, which seemed to stretch along the banks of the Skyfell River, going out about two hundred yards from the river.
Caleb immediately walked off to the side and tied the reigns of his horse around a low hanging branch. He proceeded to walk about twenty yards away from where he had left his horse when he turned around to face Katie. She was right behind him, having tied her horse up next to his.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” she asked, her eyes meeting his.
“Yes,” he said with a neutral expression upon his face. “I didn’t want to tell you, but I will if you’ll stop acting like this.”
Katie frowned at the admission that he did not want to tell her. It was easy to see that it stung.
“I guess I should start at the beginning,” Caleb said with a sigh. “After we split up, I managed to get lost. I think I could have managed to find my way back, but I saw a cat and followed it.”
“A cat,” Katie said skeptically.
“Yes, I saw a cat,” Caleb said patiently. “I followed it and was knocked out when I went into the alleyway that I saw the cat walk into. The good news is that I found the person who knew where the Sword of Kirakath was.”
“The person that you were looking for knocked you out?” Katie asked in disbelief.
“And put me in a cage underneath the city,” Caleb answered with a nod. “He knew some tunnels underneath the city really well, and he had some of them set up for me. The cage was more to stop me from doing anything stupid.” The last statement came with a slight look of embarrassment.
“Putting a person in a cage isn’t right,” Katie said quietly.
“No, it isn’t,” Caleb agreed. “I put myself in a cage though. You made that clear to me yesterday.”
Katie opened her mouth to speak, but it closed without a single word coming out. She was caught off guard.
“Anyways, the person that brought me done there was about the same age as Nicolas, and his name was Lance White,” Caleb continued.
As expected, Katie interrupted again. “Lance White… you should have told me who it was from the start. I’ve never met him, but the House of White is a noble house. They’re lower nobles and few in number, but they’re still pretty important.”
Caleb continued on as if she had never spoken, though. “He told me that I had to undergo three tests. The first was a test of character.”
The look that Katie shot him made it clear that he could not just be vague about the tests.
“For the first test, he trapped me in this dream world using some kind of magic ball. I had the choice to stay in the dream world, which was supposed to be a world where I could have anything that I desired. Even…” Caleb said, his throat going dry at the memories of what happened. “I chose my responsibilities over my desires, so I passed.”
Katie’s eyes dropped to the ground as she realized exactly what the first test had entailed.
“The second test came in the form of a fight with him using swords. I had to give in to anger to stand a chance,” Caleb said, frowning. “The test was to see if I could embrace my emotions.”
“You’re definitely a slow learner,” Katie remarked as her she made eye contact with him again. She covered her mouth when she realized what she said. “I’m sorry. That slipped out.”
Caleb rolled his eyes at that.
“Why would you need to give into anger to stand a chance though?” Katie suddenly asked. “I saw you fight the brigands that held us captive. You’re an incredible fighter.”
“No, I’m not,” Caleb said as he looked away. “My dad only taught me the basics of fighting. Everything you’ve seen up until now has just been an accident. I’m good with a bow, not with a sword. Lance is a master swordsman though.”
“Wait, so you’re going to find a magical sword, despite the fact that you only know the basics?” Katie asked, completely stunned. “How does that even make sense to you?”
“I’m going to have to learn as we go,” Caleb said with a shrug. “I told you before. I’m doing this for my father. That’s what matters.”
K
atie sighed in frustration, but she did not say anything further on that matter.
“What was the third test?” she asked, feeling that there was more that he had not told her.
“I had to fight a golem,” Caleb said stiffly. “I don’t know what the purpose of the test was, but that’s what happened.”
“What is a golem?” Katie asked immediately. “I’ve never heard that term before.”
“It’s a creature of magic and stone,” Caleb said, unsure how else to explain it. “It looked kind of like a statue made from marble.”
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