Outsiders 20.2

The Test of the Chosen, Part 2

Kaleb slammed his fist into a pillar of granite thick as a man, and chips of the stone flew in every direction, clattering to the floor and peppering him in the face. The chain the pillar was suspended on rattled, and the stone swayed from the impact. Kaleb followed the punch with another, and another, and another, switching from jabs, to crosses, to body blows. Each one echoed like thunderclaps in their improvised training room, and each one sent a dull spike of pain running up his knuckles.

By now, blood had begun to show through the thin wraps around his hands, but he persisted. Training like this was meant to strengthen his body. As an earth enziri, he could theoretically become as strong as adamant with enough conditioning like this. In theory. In practice, results like that felt a million years away.  He'd honestly made more progress by recovering from his injuries in the canyon than he had with all the training he'd done since.

He'd made better progress with his skills in close combat. Purely in terms of technique and skill with weapons and hand to hand combat, he was better than even Arden, but he, Valerie, and List were still skilled enough to push him, and they all grew more skilled by the day.

When his next punch connected with the stone, he grimly recalled Agnizzar's axe slamming into his shield. Gorpmorp burying him in the pavement. All that skill hadn't meant anything against them.

Arden was a powerhouse and a wise instructor. List and Valerie were constantly unlocking more and stronger magic, and even Xigbar, who was their weakest link in combat, had been able to provide valuable information and track down hard to find commodities for them.

An entire continent away, not a member of the Black Harvest in sight, and Kaleb was still useless. 

Prove your worth.

The words drove his every punch into the granite, drowning out the sound of the impact in his head. Prove your worth. Prove your worth. Prove. Your. Worth.

The chain suspending the granite column snapped as the stone broke in two under Kaleb's fist, landing with deafening thuds halfway across the room. For a few seconds, the only thing he could hear was his own labored breathing.

Xigbar whistled. "What did that rock do to you?"

Kaleb blinked. "Um, nothing, sorry. Just got a little caught up in training."

"You do have a tendency to do that. You ever take a break?"

"I can't afford to stay as weak as I am," Kaleb said simply. 

Xigbar looked over the two pieces of granite that had one been a solid pillar, along with the broken links of chain that had been strong enough to hold that pillar. "What is your definition of weak?"

Kaleb sighed. "I know I'm stronger than most people. But we aren't facing most people. You've seen what Zaman's elites can do. The monsters in Xykesh. And there's worse out there. There's a man working for Zaman like me. An earth enziri. But his body is unbreakable."

A light dawned on Xigbar's face. "Yeah. I think I ran into him once."

Kaleb froze. "You did?"

"Yeah." Xigbar was staring at Kaleb now, as if the boy's face was the key to some puzzle he was working out. "How do you know him?"

"Do you remember when we met, I told you I was trying to go after someone working for Zaman?" Kaleb asked. "That's him. Garem Westmin. He's the one I was sent to Xykesh to kill. Well, me and my master, anyway."

Xigbar looked like he had something to say to that, but before he could, a head of blonde hair poked into the doorframe.

"Everything okay here?" Valerie asked. "I heard a crash."

"I . . . broke my rock," Kaleb said.

A suitably impressed expression crossed the huntress's face when she saw the aftermath of the incident. "I'll tell Daniel to have the stone mason make you a new one when we get back."

Kaleb brightened instantly, all frustration forgotten. "We've got a mission?"

Valerie nodded. "José says he found a perfect target for us, but it's a tight window, so we're portalling in ten."

Xigbar shuddered. "It has to be a portal?"

"I don't like them either, but apparently it's the only way we can get there in time," Valerie said. Something occurred to her, and she looked to Kaleb. "That reminds me. How are you with boats?"

Kaleb's previously lifted spirits plummeted back to earth.

Through his usual means of eavesdropping, running messages between army units, and getting elites drunk, José had come across word that Zaman was importing weapons from the Capitol province by shipping vessel. These weren't simply small arms meant for his elites and urks. These were genuine Old World war machines.

Those sorts of resources were not simply given to the King's Chosen. They had to be bought, and they were so expensive José was sure that Zaman would have had to nearly bankrupt himself to afford them. Between the weapons and the suspicious movement orders the various army units were receiving, it seemed like Zaman was betting all of his chips on some grand assault.

José hadn't determined the target, but if it was Shadefall,and the Chosen brought those weapons down on them, they were all doomed. At the same time, if they could intercept that shipment before he got them, they could cripple Zaman.

Xykesh was completely encircled by storms, such that the horizon was constantly gray all along the coast. It made sailing to the island-continent impossibly dangerous, leaving Xykesh by boat impossible. But as long as vessels stayed relatively close to the shoreline, they could sail without fear of being capsized by a storm, so trade and shipping along the coast was still common.

Zaman's weapons would be arriving in only a few days on a shipping vessel sailing into Lochmire Keep's harbor. If it reached the harbor, it was as good as in the Chosen's hands. So, after stepping through a black hole in the side of a hill, the outsiders emerged on the rocky coast north of the city, where Daniel Shen was already waiting for them with a rowboat tied to a rock.

Kaleb grimaced at the vessel, and at their target, which was a slowly approaching shape out on the water. List noticed.

"Are you alright?" 

"Yeah," Kaleb lied, and it was even less convincing than his usual attempts. "I'm an earth enziri. I like solid ground. Being on the water always feels . . . uncomfortable."

"Well, if you need someone to hold your hand, let me know," the hellborn said. "And if you need somewhere to puke, aim for Xigbar."

Kaleb gave her an apologetic smile, hoping it would hide the stab of pain in his chest. He liked having a clear objective, a task he could complete and feel useful doing. Missions for the rebellion gave him that. But now, because of what he was, he hated making people feel like they had to cover for him.

"I'll be fine," Kaleb insisted. "Really." 

They pushed out under the cover of darkness, Kaleb handling the rowing, Xigbar directing him as one of the only people in the group who could see in the dark. Normally, with his natural sense for vibrations in the ground, Kaleb wasn't bothered by darkness either. But out on the water, he was blind. Blind, and already starting to feel nauseous. 

Their tiny rowboat rocked constantly. From the waves, from his rowing, from five people constantly shifting in position.  Water sprayed up over the sides constantly, buffeting them all with cold droplets as they sat in silence to avoid detection. And without the usual sense of firm ground beneath him, Kaleb felt adrift. His body felt too light, unstable, and deafened.

List could see in the dark too, a fact Kaleb was all too aware of. He could just make out the shape of her facing him in the dark, and he couldn't get the idea of what he must look like to her out of his head. He clenched his jaw, determined not to look as sick as he felt.

The trip was mercifully brief. Seasick or not, Kaleb was still strong enough to row them at a good speed. In just under an hour, they were pulling up to the side of the shipping vessel. Xigbar and List acted quickly—the bigger ship was much, much faster than them. They'd reached it by rowing to where it would be, and now that they had, it would pass them by in a matter of seconds.

List used her power to drive an iron spike straight into the ship's hull, and Xigbar secured their rowboat to it with a rope. Once they were properly hitched to the ship's side, and being constantly sprayed by the larger ship's wake, they started their climb.

List and Xigbar went up first, with List scaling up the side with empowered daggers and Xigbar wrapped around her shoulders in the form of a snake. When she neared the top, Xigbar slithered off her and onto the deck. They waited for a few tense minutes, List dangling off the hull, the rest of them waiting in the rowboat below, while Xigbar scouted. 

Then the thief poked his head over the side, and dropped down a rope for the rest of them to climb aboard.

Kaleb felt slightly better once he was on the deck of a larger vessel. But not by much. He still had almost no sense of balance on the slowly rocking deck, rendering his movements loud and clumsy. None of the others glanced at him as they crept through the dark, but Kaleb felt like a drunk camel in a bell shop.

He should have stayed at home. Out on the water, he wasn't just useless, he was an outright liability. If he kept this up, he was going to get them all caught.

"Well, well, what have we here?" a deep, richly textured voice called out.

All at once, a dozen lamps lit themselves along the ship's deck, bathing them all in too-bright light. The outsiders readied their weapons and magic at once as they found themselves surrounded by five figures clad in black and silver armor.

One the figures stepped forward. Beyond the typical armor of an elite, he wore a flowing black cape, and black feathers adorned his pauldrons. Unlike the others present, the man had no tail, and he wore no helmet, exposing the face of a handsome human man with windswept, jet-black hair and a fine beard. His hands rested comfortably on the hilts of twin cutlasses, one on each him.

"I am Elite Captain Nightingale," the man introduced. "And you must be the outsiders causing so much trouble in this province."

"Is anyone else starting to feel like a fish on a hook?" List asked, daggers crackling with red lightning.

"There was weapons shipment, was there?" Valerie asked. "This was a trap."

"Right on both counts," Nightingale congratulated. "Now, be good terrorists and surrender. I'd hate to have to get this cape dirty."

"You should have worn a red cape then," List said. 

"And brown pants," Xigbar added.

Kaleb swallowed hard, trying to quell the feeling in his stomach. They were in trap, facing down five enemy elites, most of the dragonbloods. This was worse than he thought. He wasn't just going to get them all caught. 

He was going to get them killed.