Caleb merely grinned in response.
* * * * *
It took three days for them to travel from Laus to Caer. Normally, the trip would have taken two days for Katie or Hector. Caleb could make it in a single day if he used the Blood of Kirakath.
Unfortunately, Nicolas and Abigail were not used to traveling long distances on foot. Traveling through the forests of Akabar and carefully avoiding being seen was difficult for both of them. Covering fifty miles in the process simply made it far more difficult.
But now, they were in the forest just east of Caer. They could finally deal with the last of the Abrams brothers. Once that was done, Caleb and his friends would be a great deal safer. It would also be a good start to changing how the island operated.
“How exactly are we going to do this?” Abigail asked curiously, looking at Caleb intently.
Hector was looking at his former apprentice as well, interest green in his forest green eyes.
Caleb smiled, almost amused that the question had gone unasked so far. “We’re going to wait until sunset. Then, we’re going to sneak in. You and Nicolas are going to wait here until we begin the attack. Once they’re distracted by us, you’ll come in and help us. The plan is to kill every single bandit in the place. If he’s anything like Victor Abrams was, Isaac won’t be able to make himself run away. There’s too much pride in him.”
“It’s a simple enough plan,” Hector remarked with an approving nod. “I would suggest that we do not stay together once we are in the town, however. It would be best if I work alone, you work with your friend, and your other friend work with the witch. Divided into small groups will prevent them from throwing the bulk of their forces at us at once.”
Caleb looked concerned for a moment, but he quickly took on a more neutral expression. As much as he hated the thought of his mentor working without anyone to help him, Caleb could not deny that the man had the skills to do it and come out alive.
“We’ll sneak it together. From there, we’ll split up. Hector should make his way to the west side of Caer while we stay in the east side. It’ll make it more difficult to deal with us,” Caleb agreed. A thought occurred to him at that point. “Abigail, can you turn us invisible?”
“If we stayed very close, I could,” Abigail admitted. “It would be very draining on me, however. It would be a much simpler matter to conjure a thick fog that extends from the forest to the eastern edge of town. They would most likely think nothing of it, and it would allow us go all at once.”
Hector nodded thoughtfully. “It is a good plan. The only question is whether to wait until sunset or to go earlier. Darkness would give us an advantage once there, but it would also make it easier for them to hide.”
“Maybe an hour before sunset,” Caleb said after a moment of thought. “If we need darkness, we’ll just need to hide once we’re there. If not, we can just act quickly.”
Katie and Nicolas nodded in agreement with the plan.
“Out of curiosity, what is that big building in the center of town?” Katie asked after a moment of silence.
Caleb looked through the trees at Caer and saw the building that she was referring to. It was at least twice as tall as any other building and was round.
“That is the Arena,” Abigail answered uncomfortably.
“There are three kinds of slaves on the island. The first are essentially unpaid servants. The second are generally women between the ages of sixteen and forty. I am sure you know what purpose they serve. And the last are the slaves that would cause problems if they were used as normal slaves. They are the ones that have skill at arms. They have the shortest life expectancy. In short, they fight to the death as a means of entertainment. I have heard that Isaac Abrams is fond of watching his slaves kill each other.”
Caleb grimaced at the explanation. It was not something that surprised him, unfortunately. An idea did come to mind suddenly though.
Hector caught his eyes and seemed to realize what he was thinking within moments.
“Can you do it?” Caleb asked.
“Yes, I can,” Hector answered with a firm nod.
Seeing Katie’s questioning look, Caleb quickly explained his plan. When he did, even Abigail looked approving.
No more was said for a while. Instead, they made themselves comfortable. They still had a few more hours to wait to begin.
Chapter 12
Just an hour before sunset, Caleb watched as thick fog descended from the trees to the edge of Caer. It was so thick that he could not see more than a foot in front of him.
He carefully moved through the fog with Katie next to him. With the fog like it was, it would have been easy to get separated, but that was not the only problem that he could foresee. If he, or any of the others, did not continue walking in a straight line, they could have easily emerged from the fog north or south of town. It would have ruined the entire plan if they were discovered like that.
He broke from his train of thought when he felt something warm wrap around his hand. Glancing at it, he saw that Katie was holding his hand.
“I don’t want to get separated,” she murmured. He could not help but notice that she seemed to be deliberately avoiding looking at him.
Shaking his head, he decided not to say anything about her excuse. It was not the worst excuse he had heard of, and she could have been telling the truth.
It took several minutes to reach the town, but they managed it without anything happening.
Stepping into the streets of one of the towns, Caleb quickly took note of his surroundings. From what he had seen when he was in the forest, there was a sentry tower in each corner of the town, the Arena was in the very center of Caer, and there was a small stone fortress to the north of the Arena. Houses were built around the arena and extended out to the sentry towers. Judging by how the street did not lead to the Arena, Caleb quickly realized that they had to have been on one of the side streets.
His head quickly snapped to his left as he heard a familiar sound. He had turned his head just in time to see one of the sentries fall with an arrow embedded in his throat.
Removing his bow and nocking an arrow, he quickly did the same thing to the sentry in the other tower on the east side. It would have been a long shot for most people, but it was an easy enough shot for him.
“Should we clear the houses?” Katie asked hesitantly.
He quickly picked up on why the prospect made her nervous. It would not have been good to get too far into the city, only to be surrounded, but searching the town house by house for bandits would have been a bad idea. Nicolas and Abigail were going to attract attention soon, and there was a good chance that someone would yell if they tried to do it. He knew that they would not escape attention for long, but there were much better places for it to happen.
“No, just follow me,” Caleb said as he quickly moved down the street. He did not see anyone there, but that changed when he came to one of the main streets. The main streets split the town into four sections with the Arena in the center of them all. Of all four streets, there was only one that he needed to avoid. Naturally, that was the street he had just come to. To his far left, he saw the Arena. To his far right, he saw the fortress that Isaac Abrams was most likely using as his base of operations.
As if that was not bad enough, he could see ten bandits standing in the street. They had likely been patrolling the street initially. The moment that Caleb came within sight, they all saw him though. As a result, they were staring at him as though they were seeing things.
He knew that he had to act fast. Reaching for the Blood of Kirakath, Caleb’s speed and stamina increased substantially. He had drew his bow back and shot an arrow into the forehead of the closest bandit. A second arrow was nocked the moment the bowstring mostly came to a stop. Again, he drew it back and shot another bandit in the face.
Two more arrows were nocked and shot by the time the first body hit the ground.
Another two left his bow before any of them could
react.
The last four bandits did not get a chance to yell or retaliate though. Katie’s knives soared through the air and silenced them before they could do anything.
“You should look before you leap,” Katie remarked dryly as she retrieved her knives.
“I suppose I should,” Caleb said as he nocked another arrow. “But that just wouldn’t be me, now would it?”
Before Katie could process what Caleb had said, he began to yell. “Isaac Abrams, get your ass out here, you miserable coward! I’m going to show your followers how weak and worthless you are!”
With that, he drew his bow back and shot the arrow at the northwestern sentry tower. An audible thud echoed throughout the night as the arrow slammed into the sentry that was stationed there.
Bandits began to walk out of the fortress, one by one. They steadily poured out until twenty stood before them. None of them were Isaac Abrams, however.
* * * * *
As Caleb was stepping onto the main street to the north, Nicolas and Abigail had just reached the main street to the west. It had been a simple matter for Abigail to conceal their presence until they made their way to the other side of town, but there was no need of it anymore.
The moment Abigail canceled the illusion spell, she pointed her staff at the sentry in the tower to the southwest. Almost immediately, the sentry slumped over the railing of the tower and fell to his death. Surprisingly, it made no sound.
“Magic,” she stated when Nicolas looked as though he was going to ask her how she did it.
Shaking his head, he unsheathed his cutlass. He then drew his dagger from his scabbard and held it with a reverse grip.
“Wait for it,” Nicolas said with a small smirk.
A loud voice echoed through the town suddenly, and everyone could hear it clearly.
“Isaac Abrams, get your ass out here, you miserable coward! I’m going to show your followers how weak and worthless you are!”
Out of the corner of his eye, Nicolas saw the last sentry fall dead as an arrow hit him.
The sound of footsteps beating on the cobblestone streets caught their attention, but they knew that it was nowhere near them. The next sound they heard was a different matter though.
The doors of several of the nearby houses opened, and tired looking bandits stepped into the street.
“Did I ever tell you the joke about the idiots that walked in the middle of a sword fight, armed only with a twig?” Nicolas asked Abigail with a smirk.
“I don’t believe you did,” she answered, humoring him with a wry look.
“The twigs are a reference to their intelligence, but you really have to be there to get it,” Nicolas said as he suddenly dashed forward and spun around, beheading a man with a sweeping slash with his cutlass. He quickly threw his dagger at another, burying it to the hilt in their chest. With lightning fast reflexes, he withdrew the six knives that he carried and threw them at the tired bandits.
Before they could even react, he had killed all of the bandits that had left their houses.
“You’re right,” Abigail remarked with a hint of mirth in her eyes. “It would seem that you really did have to be there to get it.”
Nicolas smiled briefly at the joke before growing serious. “Let’s move. We don’t want Caleb and Katie to get surrounded before Hector’s finished doing his thing.” He quickly retrieved his dagger before he began to run towards the Arena.
“Very well,” she agreed as she ran alongside him. “We will regroup with him once we are finished.”
Nicolas nodded as they ran around the Arena to the main street to the south. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the main street to the east was littered with corpses. A single arrow protruded from each of their throats.
The pair came to a stop just to the south of the Arena and saw a dozen bandits running towards them. They looked startled to see intruders blocking their path, but it did not seem to stop them from drawing their weapons.
“They look rather cold,” Abigail remarked. “I think I will fix that.” Her voice sounded sympathetic, but the murderous look in her eyes revealed her true feelings. She leveled her staff at them and flames began to emerge from its tip, spinning as it shot forward. It was over in the blink of an eye, but her spell did not kill them.
They were no doubt wishing it had.
There was not a single part of the bandits that was not on fire. They were being burned alive. Several of them let out painful screams, but they did not try attacking. They were incapable of thinking rationally.
Nicolas flinched when he saw several of the bandits plunge a dagger through their chests to get away from the pain.
“Just kill them,” he told Abigail as he turned away.
“Very well,” Abigail agreed, albeit reluctantly. Lightning shot from the end of her staff at once, instantly killing them all.
“It’s time to go help Caleb out,” Nicolas said with a grimace. There was no denying that Abigail was far more willing to cause pain than any of his other friends.
“You’re right,” she agreed.
The pair quickly began to make their way to meet up with Caleb at that point.
* * * * *
While Abigail was dealing with the bandits on the main street to the south, Hector was in the last place any of the bandits would have expected.
The Arena.
Hector could not help but shake his head at how poorly guarded the Arena was. He had easily managed to slip inside after he killed the bandits on the main street to the east.
At the moment, he was making his way to where the slaves lived.
An arrow slipped from his quiver and was nocked as he made his way down the stone steps that led to the slaves’ barracks. The Arena was not the first like it he had ever been inside. Slavery was illegal throughout the known world, but it was still practiced in some parts of Calia. The reasoning behind it was that it was only illegal if they were caught, or if they did not have enough coin for a suitable bribe.
Hector shook head at that thought. There was no one in the world that he despised more than slavers. No other profession was as foul as theirs.
He drew his bow back and shot an arrow as he saw a guard standing before an iron door. The guard was dead before he hit the floor.
It took a matter of seconds for him to retrieve the guard’s key and to use it to open the door. The creaking of door did not go unnoticed, and Hector could see a number of barely clothed men, ranging from the late teens to mid-thirties.
They all looked to be fairly healthy and had noticeable muscles.
“If you wish to leave this life behind, come with me. There is no one left alive that can stop you from leaving this place. I will show you the way out of here if you hurry. I do not have long, however. My apprentice and his friends are assaulting the fortress by now, and I intend on helping them.”
Surprise could be seen on all of their faces, though some recovered more quickly than others.
“Do you need help?” one of the men asked as he approached Hector. “You have aided us more than you can imagine. I’ll help you if I can. We’re all trained fighters. We just need to grab some weapons before we leave this place.”
“I will accept any aid that is offered,” Hector answered with a firm nod. Truthfully, he had hoped for that outcome. It had been Caleb’s idea to try to get their help in the first place, though he had said that it would be fine either way.
From the looks of things, all of the slaves- or former slaves, now- were willing to help him.
“Come with me,” Hector said as he turned his back to them. “Regardless of what you wish to do from here, we must leave at once. We will make a stop along the way so you can grab some weapons. On this island, that is something you’ll want, whether you’re fighting now or not.”
He quickly began to move away from their barracks at that point. All thirty former slaves followed him with determination in their eyes.
Chapter 13
He was not sure wh
at caused it, but Caleb felt at peace with himself as he and his friends fought for their lives. That did not make it any less intensive of a battle, however.
Things had been difficult before Abigail and Nicolas had arrived, but their arrival had helped matters a great deal.
The twenty bandits that had left fortress when Caleb tried to call out Isaac had all been killed, only to be replaced by twice as many.
Caleb knew that they could not continue to hold out for long though. He had noticed the way Abigail began to fight with her staff more and use magic less. And signs of exhaustion were already showing on Nicolas and Katie’s faces.
It was only because of his enhanced stamina from the Blood of Kirakath that he was able to fight alongside them without showing any of the same weariness. It was fortunate that he was more skilled with a blade than they were, or he would have had no choice but to increase his strength and agility as well. He would never have lasted to the end of the battle if that were the case.
Rise of the Champion (The Sword of Kirakath Omnibus #1) Page 41
