Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) Read Free

Shadow Knights…”
    He stopped walking and turned toward me. His
green eyes met my own. “You were born to a long line of Shadow
Knights.” He mounted Klard and galloped back in the direction of
our cabin.
    “I guess that takes care of that
conversation,” I mumbled to myself. As I walked back leisurely down
the long hill, I thought back to my confrontation with Caleb. I’d
been busy practicing my offensive skills with my slaggens, a pair
of short swords that were my weapon of choice, when the other two
knights in training had come upon me. Caleb had started his usual
harassment which included making fun of how small I was and then
starting in on the reasons for why my father might have named me
after the god of back luck. Of course, he wasn’t the only one who
liked to bring up that fact.
    I looked up at the sky. “You know this is all
your fault, yeah?” I turned my gaze back to the path I was walking
on, not really expecting a response from Chael himself.
    I grunted and smiled to myself. Whenever I
could feel the teasing start to get to me, all I had to do was
think back to the looks on everyone’s faces when the list of
potential Shadow Knights had been announced. My name had been the
first to be called out; being small had its advantages. The Shadows
were the assassins and the special duty members of the guard. To
pass the Shadow Knight testing was an honor not many received.
    You haven’t received it, yet, I reminded
myself. The distant rumble of thunder reached my ears and I looked
across the plains to the west where the dark clouds were
assembling. I broke into a jog in an attempt to beat the rain
home.
    “Blasted horse,” I grumbled. “You know,
Chael, you could give a man a break every once in a while. Eighteen
years of bad luck seems like a bit much. They named me after you,
for gods’ sakes. You’d think you’d be honored, not seeking out
revenge by making my life miserable.” I continued ranting to my
namesake as I made my way home.
    By the time I walked into the front door of
the cabin, I was soaked. My father sat by the fireplace, a cup of
tea in hand.
    “I put Klora away for you.” He didn’t look up
from the papers he was inspecting.
    “You should’ve just let him run away. One
good crack of thunder would have done it.” I pulled my boots off,
set my slaggens against the wall, and made my way into my bedroom.
The room was clean; one dresser, a standing mirror, a bed, and a
bookshelf. On the dresser sat a picture of my mother. I picked it
up, smiling. She’d been beautiful. Though I’d definitely taken on
more of my father’s traits, the wide green eyes and the dark brown
hair, I still held some resemblance to her. I took a quick look in
the mirror as I pulled a dry tunic over my head and straightened
it. My left eye was swollen and blue and the knuckles of my right
hand were bruised.
    “Chael, come have a look at this.” He moved
over on the chair so I could have a seat. I smoothed out the
map.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Nestle Lake.” He pointed to a small town two
weeks from Gleama, my home since I’d been born.
    “What are you looking at, then? We’ll take
the Hallow Road and be there in no time.” I traced out one of the
secondary roads between the two towns. My father shook his
head.
    “A runner came in yesterday from there. There
have been goblin attacks all along Hallow Road the past few
weeks.”
    “Is that why we’re being dispatched,
then?”
    Again, he shook his head.
    “Alright, then, we’ll take Vil Road. It’s a
bit longer than Majorn Road, but we’ll be farther away from the
goblins.”
    He nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”
    “When do we leave?”
    “The day after the Knight’s initiation.”
    I glanced at him and back to the map.
“Dad?”
    “Hmmm?”
    “Are you worried of what might happen? I
mean, if something happens and I get hurt during the Shadow
Knights’ test…”
    He frowned.
    “I just… up until now, this has been easy.