The tomb of Kaine’s ancestor, Father Solomon, was known to others as the Forgotten Temple of Exterminis. It was noticeably cooler and darker than the temple they had just left. The only things in the room were a broken altar against the far wall and several braziers that had fallen from the ceiling. Shards of broken stained glass from the windows, piles of dirt, and old leaves littered the floor. The back part of the room had caved in, leaving a crater and piles of rubble.
“What happened here?” asked Nightshade.
“I don’t know, but it had to have been fairly recent, right? We were just here…what? Two years ago?”
“Something like that,” she replied. “Something feels off, though. Someone has been here recently. I can feel it.”
Kaine trusted her intuition, so he just nodded in agreement. As he went over to inspect the crater in the floor, Trick appeared behind him, followed by Sophia and Runt.
Sophia tensed visibly, which caused everyone else to tense as well. “We’re not alone,” she hissed. “Someone is here, in the undercroft.”
Weapons out, they silently approached the door. Trick put his ear to the door and listened intently for a few moments. “Whoever it is…they’re being really quiet. Resting, I think,” he said.
“Father Solomon?” asked Kaine.
“I don’t sense his presence,” said Sophia. “Either he’s still sealed within his sarcophagus, or they’ve managed to kill him once and for all,” she said.
“Either way, I guess we better get down there,” said Kaine.
Trick opened the door silently, and they slipped into the room beyond. Trick crept down the stairs first, with Kaine right behind. Runt came next, followed by Sophia, and Nightshade brought up the rear. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they stopped while Trick peered around the corner into the undercroft. He moved back, and held up three fingers so the others could see, then used more hand signals to convey “warriors” and “hurt badly” to his companions.
Kaine nodded, then used a hand signal to ask Trick, “Priest?”
Trick shook his head, then signaled “dead” and added “again” as an afterthought.
Kaine nodded, then signaled everyone to get ready. He stepped into the room, cleared his throat loudly, and said, “We’re not looking for a fight, and judging by the look of things, neither are you.”
Finnbjorn and Jorvar were up the instant Kaine cleared his throat, weapons in hand. The Sergeant sat up, but didn’t draw his sword. Instead, he held his hand up to halt the two Northmen, and simply said, “Wait. I know that voice.” The Sergeant got to his feet and peered into the darkness across the room. Then he called out, “Father? Is that you?”
Kaine stopped dead in his tracks. “Amaris? Could it be…Is that you?”
He stepped into the light and saw his son for the first time in nearly forty years. He ran over to him, and the two men embraced heartedly. Through tears, Kaine kept repeating, “My son, my boy,” over and over again. Finally releasing him, he said, “I’ve missed you so much, my son. But what are you doing here?”
The Sergeant replied, “I’ve missed you, too, father. We’ve come to retrieve the Amulet of Kirath. The undead have found a way to get past the barrier, and Ceres thought we could use the Amulet to drive them back. But what about you?I thought you were dead!”
“Aye. I’m sorry for the deception. But I knew that if I told you the truth, you’d never be able to keep it from your uncle. And if he knew, the army of Calymnia would never stop hunting me. I also thought your uncle might kill you just to hurt me if he knew I was alive. I couldn’t risk it.”
“I ran away before he had the opportunity,” said the Sergeant.
“But you’re wearing our military uniform,” said Kaine.
“Yeah,” the Sergeant said with a chuckle. “I ran away that next day to search for mother. I made my way north, and was found by these two.” He motioned to Jorvar and Finnbjorn, who hadn’t moved at all except to lower their weapons. “They taught me how to fight, and other things, too. After I was old enough, I snuck back into Calymnia and joined the militia under a fake name. Figured it was the best way to keep an eye on everything until I could figure out what to do.”
“Smart,” said Kaine. He turned to look at the two Northmen. “Thank you, for taking my son in, and teaching him all the things I could not,” he said.
Jorvar stepped forward and said, “We found him wandering lost through our lands. He was half-starved and nearly frozen. We were honor-bound to take him in. It was our duty, nothing more. Nevertheless, you should be proud of your son. Since that time, he has proven himself time and time again. He has grown into a fine man, a capable warrior, and a true friend.”
The Sergeant blushed, and it was at this point that Kaine’s companions finally stepped forward. The two groups spent a moment sizing each other up before the Sergeant broke the silence. Addressing Nightshade, he said, “I have dreamt of this moment for most of my life. I had thought that it would go down differently though. Until three days ago, I thought our meeting would end with my blade in your gut.”
Tension flooded the room, with no one knowing how Nightshade would react. She surprised everyone by laughing. “Now that would have been a fun fight! So why did you change your mind?” she asked.
The Sergeant, filled with rage at the perceived insult, started to draw his blade, but Kaine stopped him. Looking at his son, he said, “She meant it as a compliment, Amaris. I’ve never met anyone who could take her in a fair fight, and she never fights fair. Besides, we are bonded, that one and me. The magic that keeps me alive is tangled up with her. If she dies, I die. Permanently, this time.”
The Sergeant sheathed his blade. “On our way here, we met with a wise woman of the kucheri. She told me that I would find answers here. I suppose she was right. What really happened that day, Father?”
Kaine looked at Nightshade, who just shrugged. His eyes went to Sophia, and she nodded her head slightly. Taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly, Kaine began to speak.