With the knowledge that he was not bleeding, he looked around him. Alarm filled him once again. He was in a cage that appeared to be a perfect square. From the looks of it, it was about twice as tall as he was.
That was not the only thing that had him alarmed though. The room that he was in was not so much a room as a large chamber. No natural light seemed to be present in the room. Instead, it was lit solely by oil lamps.
His eyes darted around the chamber, looking for a possible escape route. Unfortunately, it seemed that the chamber presented no such thing. The cage appeared secure, and the only things outside the gate were lanterns, a single set of doors, and stone walls.
A sharp creaking noise suddenly brought his eyes back to the set of large wooden doors as they opened. As the doors opened, a young man with short golden brown hair entered the chamber, clad in a black hooded cloak. It was only when he was about twenty feet away from the cage that Caleb saw his eyes. His left eye was green while his right eye was blue. It was the strangest thing that he had ever seen.
“So, I take it that you are from Kirakath?” the young man asked as he raised a sheathed sword in his left hand that Caleb had not noticed until then.
Caleb’s voice grew dry as he recognized that the sword in the young man’s hand was his sword.
Why do people keep taking my sword?
Needless to say, he was pretty angry at the continued occurrence.
“By the look in your eyes, I’ll take that as a yes,” the man said as he lowered the sword to his side. “I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Lance White, and I am the one who you were looking for.”
“You know where the Sword of Kirakath is?” Caleb asked immediately as he stood up.
“Yes, I do,” Lance said with a small smile. “I can’t tell you where it is though. It is not something you can be given on the simple basis of ancestry.”
There has to be obstacles, Caleb thought in annoyance. He was getting sick and tired of all the obstacles that were constantly being erected in his path.
“I guess I’ll have to earn it then,” he said with a deep breath. “But first, I want to know what’s going on. I don’t know how you found me… or where I even am.”
Lance chuckled at that. “I’d be glad to answer your questions. After all, we have time,” he said as he looked at the sword in his hand. “To your first question, the sword that you were carrying is actually a sword of magic, though I doubt you realized that. Its magic is just a simple spell to preserve the blade as it was when it was created. Thus, it cannot be broken or made dull without the spell being undone. I know what you’re thinking. That doesn’t explain how I found you though, right?”
Caleb nodded vigorously at that, storing the important bits of information in the back of his mind. He had noticed that the sword never seemed to change, but he had never considered the possibility that magic was behind it. Magic was not something the common person dealt with, after all.
“A magical artifact was passed through my family that is attuned with the spell on the sword. I was able to locate you the instant that you entered Caldreth, though it took a bit of work to find you when you were alone.”
“That was only one of my questions,” Caleb stated.
Lance nodded his head in agreement. “Since you probably just forgot to ask it, I’ll explain how I managed to lure you into the alleyway,” he began.
“Let me guess. You used a magical artifact?” Caleb asked, making his captor frown.
“That’s right. The cat was an illusion,” Lance said with a sigh. By the look in his eyes, Caleb could tell that he was annoyed. “You’re not making this all that fun, but I guess I can’t say that I’m all that surprised. Anyways, we are currently underneath the city, so no one will discover us. Very few people go into these tunnels, after all.”
Caleb immediately realized one thing of great importance. No one would come to his rescue if was unable to get free on his own.
“What do I need to do in order to get you to tell me where the Sword of Kirakath is?” Caleb asked after taking a deep breath. “I need to get the sword so that I can hunt some monsters down.”
Lance frowned once again. “That’s not a very noble goal to seek the Sword of Kirakath for.”
Pure anger, the likes that Lance had never seen before, flashed in the younger man’s eyes. “There is no goal nobler than killing the bastards that massacred the people of Kirakath.”
At those words, Lance took a step back. There was no doubt about it. He was surprised, and it was clear that it was genuine. There was no reason to suspect that it was feigned.
“What are you talking about? I haven’t heard any news of a massacre.”
With all of his anger still clear in his eyes, Caleb said, “It’s been less than a week since bandits attacked the village. It was a complete massacre. The only ones that survived were those of us that weren’t in the village at the time.” The images of Gabriel Silver and Hector Green flashed through Caleb’s mind as he spoke those last words.
Lance appeared to have been punched in the stomach at that news. “The news hasn’t become widespread yet then. This is very disturbing, nonetheless.” He took on a look of deep thought at that moment. “I agree that your quest is noble, so we can begin at once. I’ll let you undergo three tests to see if you are fit to learn the location of the sword.”
“Tests,” Caleb growled. “Why do I have to undergo tests? Why can’t I just go and get it?”
With an exasperated sigh, Lance said, “You really need to learn patience. These tests have a purpose. If you’re ready for what lies before you, then you’ll pass. Nonetheless, I need to make sure that you stand a chance at surviving before I send you off to the resting place of the sword. It is a dangerous place, and I’m not going to have your blood on my hands.”
“You’re very chatty for a captor,” Caleb noted, earning yet another frown from Lance.
“I’m pretty bad at this, I suppose,” he said with a sigh. “If you had come a month later, you’d have met my father instead of me. He’d probably be very tight-lipped about everything, but he never actually told me how to act once I had a Son of Kirakath here. He never thought it would happen in my lifetime, let alone his.”
Though Caleb would have found Lance’s words interesting on another day, that day had not yet arrived. “Just tell me what I have to do.”
“Right,” Lance said as he slipped his right hand into the inside of his cloak behind him. “For the first test, you’ll have to figure out what to do on your own, but I have every confidence that you’ll figure it out.”
With a flourish of his cloak, Lance pulled out a crystal orb the size of his head that appeared to be composed of light blue smoke.
With a flash of light from the orb, Caleb found it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open.
When he re-opened them, confusion filled him.
He was no longer standing in a cage. He was standing in a completely empty space with a solid black sky and light blue smoke covering the ground, but it only lasted for a few moments.
As quickly as he could blink, Caleb was engulfed by the blue smoke.
Chapter 12
“Caleb, it’s time to wake up.”
The sudden and familiar voice jarred the young man awake, his eyes snapping open to see Gabriel standing in the middle of his room.
Caleb’s eyes widened as he realized that Gabriel Silver was standing in his room.
How can this be possible? Caleb thought in shock. The room that he was in had been destroyed along with the rest of Kirakath, and Gabriel was supposed to be in Zabryan, undergoing training as a soldier in the King’s Army.
“Caleb, what’s wrong?” Gabriel asked with concern apparent in his voice. “Did you have a bad dream or something?”
“What’s going on?” Caleb asked as he sat up from his bed, where he was still in his nightclothes. How he came to wear clothing that he had not been in possession of since he left on his hunting trip
was the least of his concern at that moment, however. “You left to join the King’s Army in Zabryan, and Kirakath was destroyed by bandits.”
Gabriel cocked his head sideways at Caleb’s words. “What are you talking about? I told you I turned down the offer to go to Zabryan, and Kirakath is just fine. Your father makes sure of that.”
Gabriel would never have turned down that offer, Caleb thought as he rose to his feet. With a cursory glance around his room, he saw that his longbow was setting on his dresser. “This can’t be real. My bow was destroyed.”
“It sounds to me that Caleb had a pretty bad dream,” Michael Sullivan said as he walked through the door. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
Words escaped Caleb at the sight of his father. He simply could not process everything that was going on.
Could it have all been a dream? Caleb eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
“Did you hear me?” Michael asked, concerned.
Clearing his throat, Caleb nodded. “I’m sorry. It just felt so real.”
“I understand,” Michael said as he walked over to Caleb and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Sometimes, dreams can do that to you. You’ve been taking Hector’s absence hard. The stress could easily be behind this.”
“He’s still gone?” Caleb asked, almost hoping that he would be back too.
Michael nodded with a grim smile. “He’ll be back before you know it.”
Caleb looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. He could not find it in him to be surprised, or even disappointed, at his mentor’s absence. It had become too normal to be anything but expected.
“For the life of me, I can’t remember what happened yesterday,” Caleb said after a few moments.
“Well, early yesterday morning, you went to practice at that range of yours,” Michael said thoughtfully. “While you were there, a messenger came with the letter to Gabriel. Immediately after Gabriel wrote his reply and the messenger left, he went to find you and tell you the news.”
“That’s right,” Gabriel said with a nod. “We spent some time at the range, and you showed me how skilled you’ve become with that bow. I have to say that I’m a little jealous of your ability.” Those words had Caleb frowning, though Gabriel did not seem to notice. “Anyways, we had a little celebration last night after I told Father that I’d be staying in Kirakath.”
This isn’t Gabriel, Caleb thought without a hint of doubt. Gabriel might have rejected the opportunity to join the King’s Army if Michael had told him not to, but his friend would never have been envious of anyone’s skill with a bow. There was no way that Gabriel would have ever spoken a lie in front of Michael either, so he could not have been lying about being jealous.
I knew that this was too good to be true. The bitter thought pulsed through his mind as he looked at the image of his father.
Caleb closed his eyes, remembering the sight of his dying father. “I’m not here to play games. I need the sword.”
He opened his eyes in time to see Michael and Gabriel fade into blue smoke. The smoke then formed a single person.
“Lance,” Caleb muttered with barely restrained anger.
“Why do you disrupt your own paradise?” Lance asked curiously. “This world is exactly what you want it to be. You could have your family and your home back if you wish. I suppose you could leave this world if you wished, but why choose an empty life of revenge over your paradise?”
This is a paradise, Caleb thought in annoyance. That explains why Kirakath is here, along with everyone else. I guess it also explains Hector being gone. I’ve gotten used to it. I don’t really think about him that often anymore.
“I don’t want this,” Caleb said as he broke away from his thoughts. “I want to go back to reality.”
“No, you don’t,” Lance said as he shook his head. “You want this world. If you didn’t, you’d still be in a field of blue smoke.”
Caleb nodded as he exhaled deeply. “You’re right. I want this world,” he admitted. “But, what I want doesn’t matter. My duty is more important than my desires. I will get the Sword of Kirakath and avenge Kirakath. I am Caleb of Kirakath.”
With those last words, Caleb’s clothing returned to what he had been wearing when Lance captured him and the room changed back to a field of blue smoke. Lance remained where he was, however.
With a smile, Lance said, “Congratulations on passing the first test.”
Anger gripped Caleb as he dashed towards Lance and punched him with every ounce of his strength. To his pleasure, Lance was knocked to the ground by the blow of the strike.
“I should kill you for using the image of my father,” Caleb said as his sword appeared in his hand.
Blood dripped from the corner of Lance’s mouth, despite the smile that was present. “You could try, but we both know that you can’t do it here. I’m not really here. The sphere that you saw me remove from my cloak grants me the ability to trap a person in a world of smoke. It also gives me the ability to interact with that world without actually entering it. Thus, I am nothing but smoke here.”
By the heightened anger in Caleb’s eyes, it was apparent that he had come to the conclusion that it was not really Lance. “What was the purpose of this test?”
Lance cocked his head sideways at the question. “You didn’t figure that out? Well, I guess I should tell you then. I had to test the strength of your character. If you had not chosen duty over desire, then you would have not been worthy of the Sword of Kirakath. You would have died if you chosen desire, but that’s a moot point.”
“How does that work?” Caleb asked, understanding all but the last part.
“I can’t get someone out of this world unless they want to, and a man will starve if he stays in this world indefinitely,” Lance answered as he rose to his feet. “Now, are you ready to return to your cage?”
Caleb clenched his fist at the question. “How long are you going to keep me in that cage?”
“The cage will be a temporary thing, but you’ll have to stay in it for the rest of today,” Lance said as he began to fade into smoke. “The next test will take place tomorrow. In the meantime, you can get some rest. I’ll get you something to eat too.”
Blue smoke once again engulfed Caleb. When it cleared, he was back in the chamber, but Lance was no longer present. For once, he welcomed the isolation.
Chapter 13
“I wonder what Katie’s up to,” Caleb pondered as he leaned against the bars of his cage.
From what he could tell, he had last seen his female companion two days earlier, and he found that he could not help but wonder how she was reacting to his absence.
“Would she actually be worried about me?” he asked aloud, honestly not sure of the answer. She had managed to confuse him ever since they met, so he would not have been willing to even make a bet on how she was reacting at the moment.
“Your companion is named Katie, I presume?”
Caleb’s eyes immediately went over his shoulder, catching sight of Lance. Apparently his captor had been standing behind him.
“How did you get there without me seeing you?” Caleb asked as he stood up. “There’s only one entrance into this chamber, and I would have seen you if you walked through the doors.”
“Unless I’ve been in here since before you woke up,” Lance countered with a sly smile. “Are you ready for your second test?”
“What magic have you brought this time?” Caleb asked, his muscles tensing. He had already come to the conclusion that the magical items that Lance used around him were not in his best interest.
Without saying a word, Lance pulled his hand back and tossed something towards Caleb. It struck the ground between two of the bars in front of Caleb and bounced towards the center of the cage.
A single glance told Caleb that it was a key.
“You’re free to get out of the cage. I can’t test you while you’re in there, after all,” Lance said as he walked around th
e cage and headed towards the doors. He managed to reach them before Caleb even picked the key up. “If you want to leave, go left through these doors. If you want to be tested again, go right. I’m not your captor. My only interest has been in helping the Son of Kirakath.”
With those words, Lance opened the doors and walked through, moving right as the doors shut.
What does he mean by ‘the son of Kirakath?’ Caleb thought curiously as he kneeled down in front of the key. First it was Father and his talk of the ‘blood of Kirakath’ over the years, and now it’s this Lance guy with his talk of the ‘son of Kirakath.’ I’ll never understand these guys.
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 9
