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

by Billings, Ryne

  Shaking his head away from those thoughts, he picked up the iron key that was before him. It felt as cold as ice, but he ignored the chilling sensation as he rose to his feet with the key in hand. He walked the few feet to the door of the cage and slipped his hand through the bars with the key. It only took a few seconds to get the key into the lock and turn it, causing the lock to creak as it unlatched.

  It worked, he thought with relief. He picked the lock up and tossed it to the ground, the thick iron lock impacting the stone floor loudly. He then pushed the door of the cage open, his eyes on the doors to the dimly-lit chamber.

  Why can’t I figure anyone out? I thought I understood Gabriel, Hector, and Father, but then I meet people like Katie, Nicolas, and Lance. None of them are easy to understand. I just don’t understand it.

  Breaking away from those thoughts, Caleb made his way to the large doors and pulled them open with a small amount of effort. When he did, he saw that a long hallway stood before him with torches lining the walls.

  His eyes never went to his left as he stepped through the doorway. He had to get the Sword of Kirakath. There was no consideration required. His father’s last request was the only thing that mattered.

  As the doors came to a close, Caleb made his way down the hallway, following Lance’s instructions.

  The only things that Caleb saw as he walked down the hallway were stone were walls with a torch on both sides every ten feet, along with a medium sized metal door that sat at the end of the hall.

  A few hundred yards later, Caleb reached the copper-colored door and placed his hand on the metal ring that stood in place of a door handle. Grasping it and pulling the door open, Caleb saw another chamber, and it was just as large as the one that he had been kept prisoner inside of.

  If not for the fact that Lance was standing in the center of the room and torches lined the walls, the room would have been empty.

  As he entered the room, Caleb took note of something that he had not expected. Lance looked different than he had before. Instead of a black hooded cloak, he wore a pair of black leather boots, black trousers, a fine crimson tunic, and a black leather belt that had two swords hanging from it. The sword at his left hip was Caleb’s sword, and the sword at his right hip appeared to just be a simply made longsword, though it was sheathed in a finely made scabbard.

  “I’m not surprised that you are here,” Lance said as he unhooked the sword at his right hip from his belt. “Your second test will be rather simple. All you have to do is fight me. For that, you’ll need a sword though.”

  Caleb’s eyes lighted up in understanding, though he could not help but frown. “Why are you removing that sword from your belt then? Shouldn’t I get my sword back?”

  “You’ll get it back when you can prove to me that you’re worthy to pursue the Sword of Kirakath,” Lance said without a hint of sympathy in his eyes. “You don’t know the first thing about the sword that you came with here, do you?”

  “You already told me about the magic that it carries,” Caleb countered.

  “I did,” Lance agreed. “There are things I didn’t tell you though. I didn’t tell you that it was wielded by the last person that wielded the Sword of Kirakath. I didn’t tell you that it is five hundred years old. I didn’t tell you that it was forged by one of the greatest smiths in history. There are many things you don’t know about that sword.”

  Caleb’s eyes narrowed at Lance, but he did not say anything. There was nothing to say. After all, he could tell that Lance was right. He knew very little about that sword. That did not mean that he agreed that Lance should keep the sword, however.

  “Catch,” Lance said as he tossed the second sword to Caleb.

  He was not sure how he managed it, but Caleb caught the sword by its scabbard with his left hand and immediately grasped the hilt with his right hand.

  “You might want to unsheathe that,” Lance remarked as he held out Caleb’s unsheathed longsword.

  Shit, Caleb thought as he drew his sword. I didn’t even hear him unsheathe it.

  With his loaner sword unsheathed, Caleb tossed the scabbard off to the side and held the sword in a firm two-handed grip. He immediately noted that it had the same weight and balance as the sword that Lance held.

  Caleb’s eyes widened as he looked at Lance. The man was a short ways away, starting to swing the sword towards him in a swift, horizontal arc.

  Reacting solely on instincts, Caleb brought his sword down and blocked the strike, but that action caused him to get thrown back into the metal door as Lance’s blow pushed him back.

  “I’m a master swordsman,” Lance remarked, still holding the sword in one hand. “I recommend that you be very careful. I’d hate to cut you up.”

  “How am I supposed to beat you if you’re a master swordsman?” Caleb asked between deep breaths. “I’m not even an apprentice swordsman.”

  Lance just smiled as he took a few steps back.

  Anger filled Caleb at the sight of that smile.

  How dare he mock me? With anger clear in his eyes, he suddenly dashed forward with his sword and delivered a powerful downward cut.

  With incredible grace, Lance sidestepped the blow and delivered a pommel strike to Caleb’s left shoulder, forcing that hand to leave the sword.

  “You’re not too horrible,” Lance noted as he yawned. The yawn lasted only a moment though as he was forced to drop to the ground when Caleb attempted to cut his head off with a single swing of his sword.

  “Are you sure you’re not an apprentice warrior?” Lance asked with a sly smile. “You seem like one… well, you seem like a thirteen year old one, at least.”

  Without any sign of warning, Caleb kicked Lance in the shoulder with all of his strength, knocking the man to the ground. He then flipped his sword backhanded and attempted to bring the tip of the blade down over Lance’s heart, but it made contact with the stone floor instead.

  A cursory glance over Lance told Caleb that his sword had been parried just in time for the sword to completely miss.

  “You’re ruled by anger, aren’t you?” Lance asked rhetorically. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s not good to be controlled by your emotions?”

  “They make me human,” Caleb said simply as grabbed the knife that had been left at his left hip. “You might want to give up now.”

  “Maybe I should have taken that knife too,” Lance said as he smiled. With two flicks of his wrist, he slapped Caleb’s wrist with the flat of his blade, making him drop the knife. He then kicked Caleb in the back.

  With a grunt, Caleb dropped the sword and fell to his knees. The feeling of suddenly being disarmed and defeated was humbling. After the feeling of pride that he had relished in when he thought that he had defeated Lance had made it even more so.

  No more words were spoken until Lance rose to his feet. He only spoke as he stood before Caleb. “Congratulations on passing my second test. You’ll need passion to wield the Sword of Kirakath, and the first step to passion is to embrace your emotions.”

  Shock filled Caleb’s expression at those words. He had not expected to hear such a thing.

  “I never said that you had to beat me. I said that you had to fight me,” Lance added as he walked to the door. “I’m sure you’ll be bored, but I’m going to have to ask you to stay in this room. The third test will be tomorrow, and I have to prepare for it. I’ll get you a bedroll and some food shortly.”

  With those words, Caleb was left alone once again.

  As he did the previous day, Caleb welcomed the isolation.

  Chapter 14

  “You’re finally here, I see,” Caleb said as he began to rise to his feet.

  As the door to the room that he had been in for the past day slowly opened, Caleb made his way to his bedroll in the corner of the room. It was rolled up, but the bedroll itself was not his focus at that moment. He kept the sword that Lance had given him, along with his knife, right next to it.

  By the time the door w
as completely open, Caleb had the sword and knife attached to his belt.

  “You’re already ready, I see,” Lance said with a sly smile.

  “I am,” Caleb agreed as his muscles tensed. Thoughts of what the third and final test would consist of fluttered to his mind.

  “Good luck then,” Lance said as he took a step back and to the left.

  With Lance out of sight, Caleb saw one of the last things that he could have expected. A statue that appeared to be made of marble was standing right behind where Lance had stood. The statue was finely made, looking like a man through and through.

  Why did he wish me luck? It did not make any sense to Caleb.

  Brushing that thought away, he looked at the statue a bit more carefully. In addition to looking like a six-foot tall man made of marble, it had been made to look as though it wore a tunic, trousers, and a pair of boots.

  “That’s a nice statue,” Caleb commented with a puzzled expression upon his face. “But what’s the point of this? A statue can’t test me.”

  It was with widened eyes that Caleb saw that he was wrong. The statue moved to a crouching position and dashed towards him, moving as easily as a man.

  As soon as the statue walked entered the room, Lance stepped back in front of the doorway.

  Caleb had no doubt that the statue would destroy him if he did not move out of the way. Leaping to his right, out of the way of the strange foe, was not exactly easy. It ran at him with even greater speed than the black bear had.

  Still, he hit the ground and rolled away from it just before it reached him. It gave him the perfect view of the statue punching into the wall behind where he had stood.

  Its hand… it went straight through the wall, Caleb thought as the statue’s fist punched a hole into the wall. The sound of shattering stone was unlike anything Caleb had ever heard.

  As the statue turned to look at Caleb, he heard Lance start to speak. He never turned his eyes from the unnatural foe though.

  “My friend here is a golem. He… well, I suppose it is the proper word… is a living construct of magic and stone. Just to make this clear to you, a golem of this size can move as fast as a human, hit as hard as stone, and will never tire. You can destroy it, I suppose.” Lance said as he leaned against the doorway. “Anyways, your test is simple. You need to defeat my friend.”

  I’m going to kill him one of these days, he thought as he stood up and drew the sword from his hip. I’m getting sick and tired of all this magic.

  Seeing Caleb’s sword drawn, the golem dashed towards Caleb again with its fist back.

  Exhaling deeply, Caleb jumped out of the way moments before it reached him again. Safely out of the way, he brought his sword down in quick arc that he put all of his weight behind. The timing was perfect, and it hit the golem easily.

  The instant that the sword struck the golem’s shoulder, Caleb felt an alarming amount of strain on the blade. It only lasted for a moment though. A sharp echo resounded through the room as the blade of the sword snapped in half.

  That’s not good, Caleb thought as he looked at the broken sword. It was the last thing that he had expected.

  Before he could process the situation completely, the golem grabbed him by the tunic, spun around, and tossed him. As a result, he was sent him sliding across the ground until he slammed into the wall across from where he had been.

  “You’re not going to stand a chance if you just take it,” Lance said with barely hidden amusement.

  “Screw you,” Caleb muttered as he sat in an upright position.

  Before he could stand, the golem had reached him and grabbed him by the tunic again. With incredibly ease, it lifted him with a single hand and slammed him into the wall. A wince was heard from him as he made contact with the stone wall. And then, the golem began to repeat its actions.

  By the fifth time that Caleb was slammed into the wall, even Lance was wincing, though it did not seem to have any intentions of stopping.

  I need to stop this, Caleb thought as he tried to push the pain to the back of his mind.

  It was at that moment that pain of another kind filled him.

  Pain similar to having fire fill his veins consumed Caleb as he let out a silent scream.

  When he hit the wall that time, he did not even feel it. Instead, he seemed to welcome it.

  Through pained but determined eyes, Caleb stared at the golem. Seeing it begin to pull him away from the wall again, he kicked out with both feet. Instead of hurting himself like he had almost expected, he managed to force it to drop him and stagger backwards.

  Finally free, Caleb landed in a crouch and dashed towards the golem at full speed. As he closed the distance, he leapt towards it and tackled it to the ground. As his shoulder made contact with its stone midsection, more pain gripped him. He did not allow it to control him though.

  “Catch,” Lance suddenly said.

  Caleb barely looked up to see that a hammer with a handle as long as his arm had been tossed towards him. With exceptional ease, he caught it with one hand.

  In a single fluid motion, Caleb brought the hammer down on the golem’s center, sending spider web-like cracks through its torso. He repeated the motion three times before he gripped the hammer in two hands.

  Taking in the damage that he had done it thus far, Caleb took a breath and raised the hammer as high as he could. He then brought the hammer down with all of his strength.

  With a single strike to the golem’s chest, it completely shattered.

  Caleb immediately dropped the hammer and fell to his knees afterword, breathing harder than he had ever before.

  “So it’s true,” Lance said quietly. “You truly are a Son of Kirakath.”

  “What are you going on about now?” Caleb asked between breaths. “I told you that I was from Kirakath back when we first met.”

  “There’s much more to it,” Lance said with a small smile. “Congratulations on passing the third test. I believe that it is now time to give you the answers that you have sought.”

  Chapter 15

  Caleb gulped nervously as Lance reached for the sword at his hip.

  Shock filled him as Lance detached it from his belt and tossed it towards him. He was only barely able to catch it, his hands aching as they did. Using the hammer on the golem had left them sore.

  “You are definitely worth to wield that sword now,” Lance said as he walked towards Caleb and held out his hand. “I’m sorry for putting you through so much.”

  Without looking up at the older boy, Caleb took his hand and rose to his feet. “There’s nothing to forgive. Sure, I’m still pissed that you put me in a cage, beat me around with your incredible swordsman skills, and sent your pet to attack me, but you don’t seem to be the type to do anything without a good reason.”

  Breaking contact, Lance put his hand to his head and exhaled deeply. “I suppose you deserve to know my reasons.”

  That would be nice, Caleb thought sarcastically.

  “The Sword of Kirakath was put to rest in the ancient ruins of Draesa. To get it, you’ll have to travel to the Skyfell Mountains, and that’s just the beginning of the journey,” Lance said, earning a surprised but worried look from Caleb. “As if that isn’t dangerous enough, you have to make your way to the entrance of the ancient city of Draesa, make your way through the ruined city to the castle, and find the throne room. In the throne room, you’ll find a specter of the past, along with the Sword of Kirakath.”

  Caleb took a few deep breaths as he contemplated that information. It did not sound nearly as simple as he had expected originally.

  “What do you mean when you say a specter of the past?” Caleb asked.

  Lance turned his back to Caleb at the question. “Look, there are things that I can’t tell you. My family has kept secrets for the last five hundred years. I’m not at liberty to speak of them to anyone, even you.”

  Whatever Lance expected, he did not receive with Caleb’s next words.

  “Fair enou
gh,” he said as he attached his sword to his belt, happy to have it back.

  “You’re not even going to pry?” Lance asked in surprise.

  “You already told me that you couldn’t tell me,” Caleb said with a shrug. “Why should I try to get you to tell me? It would be pretty pointless.”

  Though he could accept that, there was something that Lance was having trouble accepting. “How is it that you’re not even going to try to hit me?” he asked as he turned to face Caleb again. “I knocked you out and trapped you in a cage? How can you so easily dismiss that? I don’t think I could do the same if I was in your shoes.”

  Caleb looked Lance in the eyes and revealed a grim smile. “Why would I be upset? A few days trapped underground… it’s a small price for the location of the Sword of Kirakath. Did I tell you that my father asked me to get the Sword of Kirakath and avenge the deaths of those who died in Kirakath?”