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 guess as to how she was reacting.

“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 the younger blond 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 the 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 Dad 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.’

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? he thought as he stepped walked out of the cage. I thought I understood Gabriel, Hector, and Dad, 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. “I didn’t tell you that it was wielded by the last person that has 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 the older blond, 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 the younger blond’s left shoulder, making Caleb’s left hand 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 up with his left leg and hit the younger man in the lower 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. When the older blond was standing, however, he said, “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.