The party made a move in the early hours with Morgan and Iridia still sleeping in the back most of the way.

Flencer had been woken by the wagon starting to move and was forced to clamber aboard. All hope of him staying with Kaleb had fizzled away during the night and he would instead search Brimshire for an escort, though none would be of the quality Kaleb offered in ability, he supposed not getting hanged was always a benefit when considering travel buddies.

Brimshire was a little mining village, the money from the mine and smithy allowed plenty of small businesses to crop up, making it a popular stop-off for travellers and pedallers. The roads were dirt tracks and everything was run down. Kaleb hadn’t been to Brimshire for years and he remembered it being a lot brighter. The buildings were originally lime-washed giving them a vibrant white sparkle to match the majesty of Angelspree, now, they were grey like a cadaver with mould crawling up the sides.

Iridia moved up front next to Kaleb, voice horse and eyes tired. “Brimshire?”

“Correct.” Kaleb made note of how sleepy the village appeared. Only a few folks were wandering and the people he did see had a peculiar gate to them, as if they were all carrying something heavy. Mining villages like this usually had early morning vigour, this one had lost it somewhere down the road.

“This place looks fun.” Iridia quipped.

They found the inn, Forger's arms; the wooden sign was hanging away on its last chain link, the door was battered and the windows were yellowed to match the grimy net curtains that hung behind them. “They might serve food here.” Kaleb sniffed.

Iridia’s nose crinkled. “I think Flencer wrapped up some leftovers…”

Kaleb’s lip twitched, reminded of that imp in the back, he wasn’t in the mood for his begging. “Well, we can drop him off here.”

“He isn’t coming with us?” Iridia figured Flencer would want to make some distance between himself and Kaleb, they weren’t exactly best friends.

Kaleb snorted. “Certainly not.”

Iridia frowned. “Was it Flencer’s decision?”

Kaleb ignored the question and hopped from the wagon to tie the nearest horse to the hitching post.

Iridia stood and folded her arms as she watched. “Well?”

Kaleb looked at her once as he fed and watered the horses. “Wake the others up, I don’t know what you have done to Morgan but he’s gotten awfully sluggish since you joined.”

“Morgan works like a dog.”

“I should be so lucky,” Kaleb grunted as he entered the scruffy inn door.

The interior didn’t fair much better, though a few corners did look quite nice, there was a stew pot over the fire which smelt good and all the chairs had now faded leather cushions on them. The bar was long and a Human was sitting on a high stool behind it, he gave Kaleb a quick look and stood. “G’morning.”

“Too early to tell.” Kaleb nodded. “Is that pot ready?” He looked to the stew over the fire.

“Might need another hour or so to get that meat tender.”

“Right you are.” Kaleb drummed his fingers. “I’ll have an ale.”

The innkeeper studied him a moment. “Is it Kaleb?”

Kaleb’s brow furrowed. “No, it’s a beverage for getting pissed with.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s got to be you.”

“Now how would you know who I may be?”

“Someone came in yesterday afternoon, told me that I’d know who you are and to send you to his room when you came in.” The innkeeper poured ale from one of the large barrels.

“Who came in, and what did he say?”

“Some Paladin type said to watch out for a giant git of a man.” He placed the pint down in front of the seething Kaleb. “Not my words mind you, his, don’t want no trouble in this inn, also, you might be big but I wouldn’t start nothing with a Paladin, tough lads them.” He nodded.

Kaleb took up his pint and halved it, he wiped his mouth and nodded. “Yeah, Paladins, very tough.” He finished the ale and slammed the mug down. “What room then?”

“Room six, they should be there now.”

“They?”

“Two of ‘em.”

Kaleb sighed as he saw Flencer coming in, Morgan and Iridia followed behind.

“Oh, that stew smells good.” Morgan had strolled over to the pot to lift the lid. “Is this ready?” Flencer had moved beside Morgan, taking the lid off him and inspecting it.

Iridia went straight for Kaleb, “So what are we doing here?”

“Boy, fetch my hammer!”

“And my spear!” Iridia parroted the order.

“Right away!” Morgan dashed out to fetch the arms.

“So, what are we doing here?” Iridia leaned over the bar to look at Kaleb's face.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Kaleb gently pushed her face to one side. “Well, we were going to restock, but it looks like I have a meeting to attend.”

Iridia shuffled her body and turned to him.

“Two Paladins are waiting in a room, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“I’m coming.”

Kaleb rolled his eyes. “I don’t think that’s wise.”

Morgan arrived quick time with the spear and hammer, Kaleb took up his mace and Iridia her spear.

“It could be a trap, you don’t know, you might need backup.” She waved her spear and made a serious face.

Kaleb turned to start making his way up the stairs.

Iridia followed behind. “I need to learn as well, you–”

Kaleb turned his head and spat: “Be quiet and follow then, girl.”

Iridia opened her mouth to protest but quickly shut up, she followed behind Kaleb who’d decided it was best to let her do so rather than be nagged at. Room six was on its own at the end of the hallway.

“This one.” Kaleb placed his ear against the door to listen, he could hear a deep voice but it was too muffled to make anything out. He contemplated his next move; smash the door down and get the jump or knock and try to identify through their voice, it’s not like they could go anywhere.

“What do we do?” Iridia whispered.

Kaleb turned and crouched, all hushed he whispered back: “Well, they don’t know we are here so–”

The door whined open behind them. “Ah there you are, Kaleb, come in quickly now.”

Kaleb stood slowly, he recognised that voice. “Paladin, Zeth.”

“Quite right, Kaleb, glad to see your memory is keener than your subtlety.” He winked and let Kaleb through. “Ah, Neophyte Iridia! What a spear you have there.” He patted her soft golden hair.

“Thanks.” She rolled her eyes and followed through. The room was dirty, unkempt and dull. It had a large desk in the corner with a few papers scattered around. The beds were covered with a yellow linen and the blue curtains were drawn closed. The only light sources were a few candles dotted around on sconces and the bedside table.

In the corner of the room stood a giant of a man, he was about the height if not taller than Kaleb. He wore full armour including a helmet that covered his face completely, and he held a large hammer in front of him.

“Who’s the bucket?” Kaleb pointed at him.

“Why this is your old friend, Brondius.”

“Right, why are you here and why am I talking to you?” Kaleb set his hammer down but remained within reach of it.

“I suppose you’re a little grumpy after that wagon ride, hm?”

Brondius removed his helmet and set it down on the table, his face was wide and his stubbly chin was chiselled out of marble, he had a thick black tash and eyebrows with beady dark eyes, his forehead was badly scarred and he was missing an ear. Brondius was a complete contrast to the athletic, golden-haired Zeth, he was handsome and clean-faced. Upon closer inspection Iridia found her heart fluttering at the sight of such a pretty man.

“Wagon was fine.”

“Yes, I bet you looked like a gipsy trader going down the road on that thing, hm?” Zeth laughed and Brondius guffawed. “Hope you weren’t assailed by bandits, bad news their lot.”

“Right, I am sure you’d know about bandits.” Kaleb smiled, not taking on Zeth’s pithy attempts at banter. “So?”

“Of course, I went ahead of you a day early, special orders, need you to take something off my hands, two birds one stone all that you know, hm?”

“I don’t know, Zeth, but I find it odd that you had to meet me here and bring the simpleton along with you.” He gestured to the meaty Brondius who grunted and stepped forward.

“Watch your tongue, Kaleb,” Brondius growled.

Kaleb waved him away.

“Angelspree is an odd place now, as you know…ears and eyes are everywhere and not all of them can be trusted, hm?”

Kaleb gritted his teeth, Zeth was an irksome man, far too clean, and that stupid “hm” he did at the end of every question swirled his pot just enough to make that vein on his forehead bulge. “Right.”

“Quite truly, Kaleb, I honestly don’t think you are up to this task, I was surprised when your name was marked on my scroll, alas here we are. You have gotten lazy and fat, speaking metaphorically of course. Too much time striding through the city looking for indiscretions, killing your brothers.”

“If I kill a man, it is because he is no longer a brother and has fallen into heresy, do not put their deaths on me, they summon me through their own actions.” Kaleb pursed his lips. “I didn’t come here to explain myself to you, what is the task you clearly couldn’t be trusted with?”

Zeth nodded and walked to the bed, he crouched and slid out something long, covered in cloth. He approached Kaleb with it held out in his palms. “Go on, move the cloth.”

“Right.” Kaleb unceremoniously removed the cloth and then looked at Zeth unimpressed. “A sword.”

“This is a conduit blade.”

“Why are you giving me this?” Kaleb inspected the blade, it looked ordinary but he knew that it was more valuable than a whole armoury. Conduit blades allowed the name of a demon to be sung into them, creating a weapon that could slice through that specific demon like a hot knife through butter.

Zeth took on a solemn look and placed his hand on Kaleb's shoulder. “Kaleb, my heart weeps, Angelspree is under the control of a Demon.” He patted Kaleb's shoulder.

“How do you know this?”

“I have seen the corruption, it hides but I have seen it, it’s not found in the eyes of men, I can’t explain it. I raised my concern with a trusted ally in the council.”

“Foolish, the council is the first target for a demon.”

“Perhaps, but…they gave me this blade.”

“Why am I given this task?”

“We can’t trust our smiths to sing the demon's name into the blade. You must take it to the Elves, in secret.”

Kaleb looked at Iridia who was stone silent, why was she named on his scroll? Why was he sent away to do this mission? Something was missing. “Torina cannot be trusted?”

“Nobody can, it’s nothing personal but we cannot take a chance.”

Kaleb pondered. The Elves had stopped their production of singing steel, citing internal struggles between the two major clans. Everything was linked somehow. Torina had bought buckets of the stuff, overlooking the local Brimshire mine which had decimated the economy in the village. “What’s the demon's name?”

“I don’t know.” Zeth removed his hand from Kaleb’s shoulder. “I am going to try and find out, I will send you word if I do, however, I feel you may find the answer from the Elves.”

“Why would the Elves know?”

“They are wise when it comes to these things, gather all the information you can, if they can find this demon's name we can out it and kill it with the blade.”

Kaleb folded the cloth back over the blade and handed it to Iridia who tucked it under her arm. “I’m going to have some stew.” Kaleb walked out of the room with Iridia, seemingly unphased by the weight of this quest.

“I’ll be here for a short while longer should you need anything, Kaleb.”

Kaleb closed the door behind him and looked at Iridia, his untrained, unprepared and inexperienced neophyte. The extent of the quest was a weight he wasn’t sure he could handle. Zeth was right, he had spent much of his time dealing with problems he was over-equipped to handle. He wasn’t built to fight demons, he was built to face off corruption.

“Are you ok?” Iridia startled Kaleb as he stood in the hall.

“I don’t know.” He said quietly. “Let’s get stew and have a sit.”