single man and claimed a swift victory over King Baltrasard’s soldiers.
Caleb knew, even before the battle had started, that the king would not fight with his men. Baltrasard preferred to hide within the thick walls of the castle he had stolen from the rightful king of Predaria before him, or in the north, far from the horrors he’d created.
Caleb wasted no thoughts on how Baltrasard had known he was coming. The Warriors didn’t hide. They exacted justice, quick and merciless on any who broke the law. Most didn’t break it because of them. But most wasn’t all, and the lawless were particularly ruthless. If not for the Warriors, there would be no law.
“Pastor Joseph would have insisted we bury the king’s men,” Jonas reminded him. “Every soul, be it good or evil deserves to be put back into the ground. He would remind us if he were here and not looking over the foolish baron.”
As far as the burying his enemy, Caleb disagreed. There were no writings of King David of Israel doing so. Caleb also doubted the ground would have them.
Considering the baron, Caleb hoped he came to Christ before he married his sister, or no marriage would take place. He didn’t care how much Shauna fought with him. It was the only reason Caleb allowed the baron to remain in Shondravar while he was ill.
“She should be here with us,” Caleb said. “You pine over her but it was your decision to end things with her, forcing her into a life with the pompous, overpoweringly dull baron.”
Ermile Houtier, Baron of Iln in Hadvarti asked Shauna to marry, and Shauna agreed. Because of Ermile and Jonas, she lived a useless life, filling their father’s house with useless rubbish from other countries, trying to surround herself in luxury while their neighbors all starved.
Caleb wished she’d come. He missed her sword at his back.
He reached the cliff wall and fit his boot into a hole in the rock encircling the castle and pulled himself up.
They crept along the narrow ledge of the stony cliff that jutted up from a ground once covered by water. Caleb had waited for this day almost all his life, trained with the Warriors since he was a child so that one day, he could bring justice to Predaria.
His heart roared with exhilaration as it beat against his ribs. Whoever was left inside knew they were coming. The king knew it too. Caleb wanted to hurry and get to him. He’d been told that Baltrasard had ordered many tunnels built beneath Silvergard leading outside, so Caleb had stationed some of his men around the outskirts of the castle, just in case he popped up. They had orders to take him alive, if possible.
Baltrasard wasn’t an easy man to catch, preferring to live in the land of Beldar with his family nine months out of the year. But he was here. Now. The time was right. Now, the land would be avenged.
His foot slipped and dozens of tiny rocks piled down onto Jonas’ head.
Muffled curses filled the night air while Caleb rested his cheek against the stone cliff, trying to calm his anxious heart. When he looked up again, he could see the battlements lit in the moonlight and the guards that patrolled the narrow walkway. Twelve massive stone turrets punctured the dark sky, and a tower on either side of the castle cast grievous shadows upon the rocky cliffs below.
Castle Silvergard had once been as beautiful as Predaria. Caleb thought his heart might break upon seeing it again. The evil that sometimes lived within its silvery, granite walls had spread through it like a disease. Dry, scorching air and years of cool, pebble strewn night winds had corroded the mighty walls, erased the delicate carvings of dolphins and sea nymphs that had once looked out over a river so blue it rivaled the sky. Silvergard was nothing more than a haven for Caleb’s sworn enemy now.
He said a prayer and leaped off the cliff wall.
Chapter 2
Princess Willomenia Odarre, the only living child of King Baltrasard I, hid behind the curtains and shadows and listened to her father speak of his enemy, a man called Caleb, commander of the fabled Warriors.
According to the tales, the Warriors rode the dusty plains every so often, with no predictability, to enforce justice in this harsh, ugly land. They didn’t ride in the king’s name though, but in the name of their god, Yahweh.