When the house of Zale’s Paladin ventured out to expunge heresy for crimes deemed too unholy to utter, time for reason had concluded. Kaleb was a house of one; loathed by his peers, feared by his masters and respected by the ignorant. Kaleb was the hand of the council while being the holder of its leash, for corruption at any level would not be tolerated.

Kaleb stood before a middle-aged Paladin who wrung his hands feverishly, reading from an unrolled scroll while his eyes darted between the words and then into the Paladin's worry-wracked gaze. He read out the charges in a booming voice: “Rape–three counts.” Kaleb's voice was monotone, he shook his head as he read. “Accepting bribes–twelve counts.” he tutted several times. “Murder–one count.”

“Well it’s–”

“Silence while I read.” Kaleb half closed the scroll to peer at the child by the Paladin’s side. “You didn’t commit these vile acts before the eyes of the young one, did you?”

“No…no.”

“So you did commit these acts then.”

“No–”

“Silence.” Kaleb tutted more and clucked. “Worst of all there are three counts of cursing the divine heart.” He closed the scroll and hung the yellow parchment from his belt before lifting his hammer which he had set on the ground haft up.

“Kaleb–please I am a brother, let me trial before the council, I can prove this is nonsense.”

Kaleb rolled his shoulders and the steel mantle clanked. Boredom was painted on his angled features, light kissed the side of his frame from the dawning sun through the trees off to the west. It was the height of summer and the heat was already starting to set in, it made Kaleb more irritable than normal. “I’ve seen enough evidence, Paladin Grush, I do my own investigations you know, a trial is not needed.”

“I have served this kingdom for twenty-five years!”

“Yes, I read your reports, you’ll be missed on the battlefield, I also have no time for such paperwork.”

“Paperwork?”

“The forms required to apply for your trial are ridiculous, you wouldn’t believe it.”

Paladin Grush shook his head in disbelief, unable to comprehend the nonchalance at his sentencing at the hands of Kaleb on the count of inconveniences regarding paperwork. His mouth was agape and his hands now raised. “I…please.”

A flock of ravens fled from the nearby tree at the sound of the echoing crack. A Paladin Grush may have been, but even the divine heart wouldn’t protect him from Zale’s imbued hammer. His skull was crushed and his eyes had popped out, a look of confusion frozen in death was all that remained of Grush’s final moments.

“Shame,” he sighed, wiping a smatter of blood from his cheek. “Helper boy!” Kaleb set his hammer down and clapped his hands. “Helper boy! Come, make this report.”

A young wiry man in a red feathered cap hopped from behind a felled tree, quill and scroll at the ready. “Yes, my lord!”

“Let it be known, Paladin Grush fell at the hands of Paladin Kaleb of house Zale, he admitted to all crimes and was most remorseful.”

“That’s not true!” A mousey chirp interrupted Kaleb’s flow and had him locked on her with a scowl.

At the sight of the fearful girl, Kaleb's annoyance melted away. “Ah, the apprentice, sorry you had to see the fall of your mentor, hero and whatever else he might have been to you, duty is duty.”

“He didn’t admit to it though,” her voice had quietened and she had slunk back into herself. A gust of wind apologetically brushed between them and flapped her green tabard in its direction, as if her house standard wanted to fly away with the breeze.

“He all but did, girl, and you should mind your elders.” Kaleb turned back to the boy to finish the report, the girl stood defiantly and watched. She folded her arms and shook her head as Kaleb took liberties with the accounts. Once done he turned to her and pointed with a scaled finger. “Right, girly girl…eh, you come back with me, I’ll deliver you to the orphanage, I’m sure they’ll find you a new Paladin–and house–your house is now shamed.”

“But, this is my father's house.” Her eyes welled and her bottom lip quivered. She was a neophyte, her insignia told Kaleb she was sixteen or seventeen, and all youngsters had to wear it.

“Is your father still alive?” Kaleb’s head tilted and his eyes widened, offering a moment of perceived kindness.

“N-no…” her face dropped as she shook her head, tears landing on her worn boots.

“Better for it then, helper boy, charge the house for my service.”

“Wait, you’re charging my house for killing our head Paladin?” She looked up and between them both. The helper boy looked back between Kaleb and the girl as if waiting for approval from someone.

“Correction, I eliminated corruption in your house.” He dropped his hammer into the nape of the helper boy's elbows causing him to stumble forward. “Take the hammer back boy, don’t drop it.”

“I–”

“Silence, girl, you’re very boring and your weepy eyes lay weight on my heart that I cannot carry, very irksome I might add.” He dusted his hands and pointed to the horse-drawn carriage. “Into the wagon you go, don’t touch anything.”

Kaleb strode away and headed back to Paladin Grush’s forest cabin to gather his maple steed. The ride back to the city would be an hour or so, he was tempted to ride to the lake and have a little fish, can’t beat a free lunch.

The journey home was calm and the warmth held to Kaleb, his forehead was sticky and flies struck his forehead like a smithy's hammer, how he wished he could shrink to their size and look into their eyes as he cut them down like filthy mutts. To pull his attention away he sang a song:

Divine heart fair me well.

Take me ‘cross currents strong.

Defen the dark siren’s song.

Divine heart fair me well.

“My, lord.”

Kaleb was tempted to sing on, but another call from the helper boy had him halt his horse. “Yes, boy?” He looked back to the wagon the boy was sitting in front of, the horses kicking at the floor.

“The girl, she’s…gone.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

“Not there, eh, she is no longer in our presence, she is...”

“I know what bloody gone means, tadpole, but where has she gone?”

The boy looked around the wagon, his spindly legs raising and hooking around the wagon sides like a spider wrapping its prey. “I don’t know, my lord, she’s not in the wagon though, I turned to check just now…”

“Well bugger, she’ll turn up I’m sure.”

“My lord, she is blessed with the divine heart, should we not search for her?”

“We should, but I deal justice not play hide and seek with rapscallions that have nary any respect for their betters. I’ll have the council send out a party for her, she won’t have gone far.”

“Right, you are, my lord.”

Kaleb wiped his brow and spotted another lake. He sent his wagon ahead to the city after giving in to the urge. He spent the next two hours or so fishing before returning to the city gates. Angelspree was the home of many major Paladin houses. All miniature businesses that fulfilled orders of battle, quests of valour and the procurement of magical items; all in the name of the Imperium of the Divine Heart, the beating organ at the centre of the kingdom of men.

Angelspree was a lavish city that sprouted impossible towers that spiralled to the sky, adorned with majestic scripture twisting around the imperious architecture. Golden rivers of stone poured over the ground, carrying wagons and citizens between its stately buildings.

Kaleb spent much of his time in his house, a simple white box across from the looming council halls. He sat in the shade of his controllers in what most people in the locale would deem: abject poverty. He pushed through the wide bronzed doors into the council chambers. They sat behind a marble desk that arched over the main floor, allowing the five members of the council to look down at whoever addressed them.

“Ah, Kaleb, you have returned.” Councillor Stiven smiled and made a triangle with his index fingers.

“I have. Grush has been judged and sentenced.”

“We read the report.” Councillor Argent chimed in. “I assume you have more to tell us?”

“Indeed.” Kaleb nodded, applying a solemn look. “A girl.”

“Iridia.” Argent smirked.

“Iridia?” Kaleb looked between the councillors.

“The name of the girl you lost.” Councillor Maysmith chuckled and leaned forward from the darkness so her features could be illuminated.

Kaleb shook his head, “Well, lost is a strong word, she ran away, a bloody imp, nuisance I say.” He scratched his thick beard and rubbed the tip of his nose, fishing had calmed his nerves yet he still hadn’t reached the level of patience he required to have a clashing of horns with five imbecilic geriatrics that surely needed their undergarments changing by handy helpers. Nonetheless, he kept a straight face.

“You say, you say, you say.” Promagon, the central councilman shook his head and grunted. “I say you were careless, and it’s time to take responsibility for your house lest it fall into oblivion. You know there are many Paladin houses that would gladly take up the role of justiciar.”

“With all due respect.” Which, coming from Kaleb, meant none at all. “Nary a naive in these houses holds a candle to my burning zeal.”

“Indeed.” He smiled. “But you have yet to find a successor, someone to pass the mantle if you should die–”

“You can elect another to house Zale.” Kaleb stepped forward.

“We can, but we will not.” Promagon licked his lips; he held a special place in his heart for delivering bad news to Kaleb. Ever since a failed investigation their relationship had been tried to its tether. “Have you cleared the balance sheets?”

“I haven’t poured over the books.” Kaleb stuck out his bottom lip before sucking it back in. “Either way the girl–”

“Here she is councilmen.” A voice of confidence shut Kaleb up.

Kaleb turned to face the direction of the voice behind him. Paladin Zeth, tall with gleaming blonde hair and white armour. He was the archetype of the Angelspree ideals when regarding a Paladin. “Oh well done, Paladin Zeth.” Kaleb clapped. “You won at hide and seek.”

“Yes, how was fishing?” He quipped.

“Poor,” Kaleb spoke with a smile.

“You will get fat, Kaleb.”

Kaleb paused a moment and looked between Zeth and the councilmen. “You have stupid hair.”

Zeth shook his head and chortled and then pushed the girl toward Kaleb and bowed low. Kaleb sighed at the sycophantic display and turned back to the council. “Well, that settles it.”

“It does not!” Councilman Promagam’s voice boomed through the hall and forced Kaleb's arms into a fold across his breast defensively. “You might work outside our direct control, Paladin Kaleb, but you still have your oath to follow and your duty to the council is not to be shunted.” Promogon leaned forward and sneered. “Which is why I am forced to do this. We voted on it already.”

Kaleb looked between the five councilmen, fixing his gaze on Councilman Volar who had been quiet. He couldn’t see his eyes but that didn’t matter. “Voted on what?” he enunciated each word through a biting sneer, arms dropping and hands now on hips.

“Your oath-bound duty, we wish to call it in.”

Kaleb laughed: “Truly?”

“As you know, once every ten years you are to…”

“Yes, yes I know, get on with it.”

Mayweather’s voice rang from Kaleb's right side. “You are to visit the Elves; they have had another falling out. Repair it.”

“You want me to play diplomat for a bunch of mud lickers and knife ears?” Kaleb turned to face each councilman with a smooth pivot like a confused clock hand. “Ridiculous.” Kaleb started his practised laugh once more.

“You are to bring the girl.”

Kaleb's laughter was halted by Mayweather's addendum. “Come again?”

“You will take Iridia as your apprentice, the writ is complete, the document signed, the scroll prepared and you will accept for you must.”

Kaleb ran his hands through his thick black hair and pushed it behind his ears. “So you are using your once-in-a-decade call-in, to have me chat with Elves and babysit the cast out of a disgraced house? Is this a torment you bring upon me?” Kaleb looked at the girl and shook his head, applying the disdain he had for her house upon her, as if she was to blame. She held her hands in front of her and stared down at the floor.

“Yes.” Volar’s course voice crawled out from the left.

That was it, Kaleb thought he had at least one ally on the council, but it seemed even Volar had bowed to madness and now he was stuck with a twerp and her wooden training sword, how could she take on the duty of the house of Zale? “I already have an apprentice,” he clapped his hands. “Helper boy!”

“Morgan, your helper boy, is not touched by the divine heart.”

“Give him a chance.”

Councilman Promagons shadow flared and spasmed, and from the gloom came a blurry white wheel. Kaleb was struck on the temple by a hand hammer and he fell back onto his behind, bruising blossomed and then withered, healed in an instant it seemed, the pain still dancing on the point of contact however. “Bastard!” Kaleb climbed back to his feet and rubbed his head.

“I have had enough of you, Kaleb, you are dismissed, take your new apprentice and succeed, or you will be reprimanded.”

Kaleb stormed out of the halls, Iridia following behind like a timid rodent, locked into silence. She had seen so much in such a short amount of time, Kaleb was momentarily impressed by her stoicism, she had at least tried to stick to that Paladin oath. However, any reverence for this achievement was quickly washed away like a sand house on a beach when he remembered why he was in this current predicament. “This is your fault you know, girl.” Kaleb pointed at her as he did after striking her mentor down.

“My fault?”

“Yes, you fled my wagon, look at what you did.”

She looked down. “Sorry, my lord.”

Kaleb sucked in the air, ready for her cheek, instead, he blew out after hearing the apology and cleared his throat. “Hm, well, let’s get you settled somewhere, you won’t be coming with me to the Elves, boring stuff anyway, you can learn to smith.”

“But I am a Paladin, sworn to protect.”

“Exactly, child. There is a Paladin house of dirty-handed hammer clinkers. They make armour and armour protects.” Kaleb raised his eyebrows a few times, revelling in his genius as he led them across the main road towards his little house.