Chapter Text
Caleb sighed to himself as he took a sip from the ale he was drinking. The Nein were currently sitting in a small tavern in the town of Wildemount. They were getting ready to head south but just wanted to take one night to rest.
“You know, if we didn’t have to go south tomorrow, I would be challenging you,” Beau suddenly remarked.
“Clearly you guys don’t remember what happened the last time one of us did this. Caleb couldn’t see straight,” Jester sighed.
“That’s because Caleb can’t hold drink very well,” Nott replied, smirking.
“I wouldn’t say that. If you remember, I actually won that drinking challenge,” Caleb responded.
Nott answered with a warm smile before placing a hand on his shoulder. Caleb gently smiled in return.
The Nein had been together for a while now and had gotten to know one another better but the one person. Caleb will always turn to is Nott. The pair had been together longer than the rest of the group and had a very close bond.
“If anyone could take a drinking challenge on, it’s Nott,” Beau pointed towards the goblin.
A light chuckle surrounded the Nein, although Caleb’s was more forced. He knew Nott’s drinking was a serious problem and something he wanted to work on with her, but he didn’t think the rest of the group took it seriously.
Wanting to clear his head and not be around for this conversation, Caleb leant over to Nott. “I’m just going for a walk. I’ll be back.”
He got to his feet and made his leave before anyone could ask questions, including Nott.
He made his way out the tavern and onto the main street where he began heading towards the forest on the outskirts of town. He just wanted to be alone where no one could find him to collect his thoughts.
Even though they had been traveling together for quite some time, there were still so many things they didn’t know about each other. Everyone, apart from Caduceus and Jester, had kept everything so close to the vest and Caleb was no exception.
The truth was Caleb had been lying about his past and who he was the whole time, and it was something that was starting to destroy him. He hated lying to those closest to him but there was no way they would believe him if he told them the truth.
He knew he only had a certain amount of time left and he shouldn’t be spending it doing things that aren’t going to help him get what he wants.
Making his way deep into the forest, Caleb sighed to himself, thinking of how he was going to get out of this. He had been traveling with the Nein now for so long they had become a safety net for him. He almost didn’t want to leave them.
But he knew to save his family and change his future he would have to.
Caleb knew leaving was going to wreck Nott, but she now had five other people that could watch over her. She was going to be fine. Not to mention he had been leaning on her for long enough.
He needed to learn to stand on his own.
Caleb had been so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t hear the footsteps that had been following him since he left the tavern. Caleb turned around only to be met with a looming shadow and a sharp pain to the head. Then everything went black.
~~~~
Caleb fluttered his eyes open a short time later to the sounds of hushed voices. He couldn’t make out what they were saying, but he did recognise them.
Caleb slowly lifted himself up onto his arms. “Took you long enough to wake up.”
“How did you guys find me?” Caleb asked, looking up at the two men.
One of the men sighed, before kneeling in front of the wizard. “Cut the crap Brenatto. That necklace may be able to hide you from Trent and his disciples, but you can’t hide from us.”
“Alright, good point,” Caleb slowly got to his feet. “You have me now. What are you here for?”
“I think you know what, but we’ll tell you anyways. You have 3 months left Luc then your time is up,” the other man with brown hair announced.
“You know you have a debt to repay. You can only run from it for so long,” the blonde-haired man stated.
“I’m not running from a debt,” Caleb stood up to them. “I’m trying to save my family.”
“And how’s that been working out for you?” the brown-haired man asked.
“I just need a little more time,” Caleb answered.
“Are you any closer to finding them than you were when you first arrived 9 months ago?” the blonde-haired man asked.
Caleb’s voice got caught in this threat before he looked down at his feet.
“You haven’t even been searching, have you?” the brown man snarled.
“Of course, I have been looking,” Caleb shot back. “There have just been other things going on in the background.”
The faces of the two men that had taken him had now turned red and the blonde was now shaking with anger.
“Brody, I think our friend here needs a little reminder of what happens when people take what we do for granted,” he turned to his friend.
Caleb’s eyes widened as Brody nodded and slowly reached into his pocket.
Having dealt with these two men before, Caleb knew what was about to happen and prepared himself as Brody and his friend, Lyndon, he recalled his name being slipped a ring on each. He knew there was no point in running. One, he had no idea where they had taken him, and two, he knew they could easily catch him.
He was still getting used to this body after all this time.
As Caleb tried to prepare a spell to knock them back a large bolt of fire was suddenly flying in his direction.
Caleb managed to duck last minute, narrowing dodging the flames before making a run for one of the large pillars on the other side of the room.
Pressing his back against the marble pillar Caleb readied himself before attempting to peer out for a second and cast ‘web’ at Brody.
With Brody being a wizard like him he knew he was going to have to deal with him first in order to have a chance at taking down Lyndon.
Caleb gritted his teeth as the brown hair wizard dodged the arrack last minute. ‘Damn it.’
Caleb knew Lyndon would be using the darkness of the room to his advantage to get over to him. He knew if he was going to deal with Brody, he had to do it now.
Taking a deep breath, Caleb jumped out of his hiding place once more and cast ‘Flaming Sphere’ at the other wizard, this time it succeeding.
Caleb watched as a dome of fire formed around Brody and a grunt came from the man. Hoping that was going to hold him for a second, Caleb turned his attention to try and find Lyndon.
Knowing the rouge had the upper hand in the dark, Caleb cast ‘dancing lights’ and forced the room to light up in the area around him. As the room grew alight Caleb swiftly scanned the room, knowing he didn’t have a lot of time.
The next thing Caleb knew he had a sharp pain running up his back and was on the floor.
He gripped his back in pain as a voice came from over top of him. “Did you really think that was going to work?”
“I’ve been travelling with a wizard for the past 10 years. Did you seriously think I haven’t seen that spell before?” Caleb could hear the smirk in Lyndon’s voice.
The sharp pain in Caleb’s back was still there and he had a feeling, from being around Nott so long, it was an arrow he had been hit with.
You haven’t gotten any wiser since the last time we spoke I see. I wonder what your mother and father would say if they could see you right now,” Lyndon taunted the young man.
“You leave them out of this,” Caleb spat back.
“Why, upset that I’m right?” Lyndon smirked as footsteps made their way over to them.
“You know Luc. I’m surprised you’ve lasted as long as you have. Most people like you would’ve dropped dead by this point. That group you’re travelling with is probably the only reason you’re still alive,” Brody voice commented.
“Maybe,” Caleb answered before one of the men used their feet to roll him onto his side.
Lyndon suddenly pulled a short dagger from his bag and held it up in front of him. “Consider these next few minutes an appetiser of what’s to come if you don‘t succeed and pay up in the next 3 months.”
Caleb felt fear flood his body as the two humans looked at one another. The room was eerily quiet before Lyndon suddenly stuck down, plunging the dagger into Caleb’s side and grabbing the arrow wedged into his back.
The young man cried out in pain as wave, after wave flooded his body. A second flood of pain suddenly hit him; this was worse than the last as Brody cast a spell on him.
He could feel blood running down his body as the pain continued. He had a feeling unless he could find a Cleric or some sort of healer, he was dead.
A loud bang could suddenly be heard throughout the room before the assault on Caleb’s body stopped.
“I thought this place was abandoned,” Brody commented.
“Wait here. Don’t let him out of your sight,” Lyndon ordered before rushing to his feet and leaving the scene.
A few moments past with the voices of whoever was in the other room getting louder and more aggressive.
Lyndon suddenly returned. “Consider this your lucky day Brenatto. It looks like we’ve got a clan of goblins that seem to have kidnapped some halflings. For your sake, let’s hope they have the answers you’re looking for.”
Caleb’s eyes widened at the comment.
“Consider yourself warned Brenatto. Next time you won’t be walking away from us,” Brody spat.
Caleb laid bleeding on the floor as the two men walked away from the scene.
Wanting to know what was going on, Caleb slowly crawled across the floor and in the direction, Lyndon walked in until he could hear the voices of the Goblins and Halflings. He ignored the pain seering in his side.
“I don’t know anything I sear,” the crying voice of a female halfling whimpered.
“That’s what you’ve all said. I know you have a daughter and I think you know what will happen to her if you don’t’ start talking,” the goblin threatened.
“Please don’t hurt her. I don’t know anything, but my husband and daughter have nothing to do with this,” the Halfling woman begged.
“Look, we’ve already had a few of you from Felderwin become a major problem for us and we are starting to lose our patients,” the goblin sighed.
Caleb’s breath got caught in his throat at the name ‘Felderwin.' That name set off all kinds of alarm bells with the wizard.
“Do whatever you want to me but leave them out of this,” she replied.
A slapping noise suddenly echoed through the room followed by a cry of pain from the woman.
Unfortunately, the dancing lights had faded, and the room had become dark again so Caleb couldn’t see what was going on, but he knew it wasn’t good.
Ignoring the pain thrashing his body, Caleb made an attempt to get to his feet but was soon met with piercing pain in his back once more. He then felt the arrow in his back move.
He held back a grunt of pain, pressing his lips together until they started to go numb. He couldn’t let the goblin know he was there. It could make the situation worse.
He fell back against the cold floor unable to move. He needed to get to the woman, she could help him and give him the answers he’d been searching for.
Frozen and unable to move, Caleb laid on the floor helplessly as the goblin all of a sudden hit the halfling again. Several more cries ran through the room.
“Ready to start talking yet?” the goblin spat.
A reply came in the form of sobs from the woman before the goblin growled.
“Right, lock her up and bring me the girl. Maybe that will jog her memory,” the goblin called out.
“No!” Footsteps could suddenly be heard coming into the room.
Caleb began to panic as he heard the struggle get worse and the screaming from the halfling woman become louder.
Making another attempt to get to his feet, Caleb tried to get to the woman, hoping to help her, but he just couldn’t move.
Before long, blood had started dripping from his wounds onto the floor and he had started to become lightheaded.
‘I need help,’ Caleb mentally panicked as his vision began to blur.
Just before Caleb lost consciousness a familiar voice echoed in his head. 'Caleb, you didn’t come back. Where are you?’
‘Nott, help,’ He managed to reply before everything went black once again.
~~~~
Caleb came to, a hand gently shaking his shoulder. “Caleb, wake up. Please.”
He sucked in a large breath as pain returned to his back, this time pressure accompanied that pain.
A sigh of relief came from above him as the familiar view of the bottom of Nott’s green robes appeared in front of him. “You’re okay, just let Caduceus heal you.”
Caleb stayed put with Nott’s hands placed on his shoulder, her fingers gently stroking his skin. A tingly feeling started traveling up his back.
Finally, Caleb was able to breath normally again as Caduceus finished healing spell. He slowly pulled himself up onto his knees.
“Are you okay?” Nott asked, gluing herself to his side, wrapping her arms round his waist.
Caleb nodded. “Ja, Thanks Caduceus.”
The cleric replied with a gentle nod before getting back to his feet.
“What happened?” Yasha suddenly asked, standing over the group.
Caleb hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out what he was going to say.
‘I can’t tell them I was taken by people from the future. They will find out the truth,’ Caleb thought.
“I don’t know. I was taking a walk when someone came up behind me and hit me. They took me back here and must’ve gotten me mistaken with someone else because they started asking me questions I didn’t know the answers to,” he lied through his teeth.
“What were they asking you?” Fjord asked.
“I don’t..” he trailed off before suddenly remembering the halfling woman. “Wait, there was a woman here. She was being attacked.”
“A woman?” Beau asked.
“Yeah, a halfling woman she was being threatened if she didn’t start talking, they would take her daughter and husband,” Caleb kept things vague.
‘I can’t let them know who I am. It would open a whole new can of worms.’
“Who was threatening her?” Nott asked.
Her tone of voice was very off to Caleb. She seemed worried about this woman.
“I’m not sure,” Caleb lied. “I think it may have been either an elf or a gnome.”
“Was she human?” Jester asked. “The woman that was taken?”
Caleb shook his head. “No, it looked as though she was a halfling.”
Nott suddenly froze beside him, “Are you sure she was a Halfling?”
Caleb looked over to her. She had a look on her face that didn’t sit well with Caleb. She seemed slightly panicked.
“I know what a Halfling looks like Nott,” Caleb replied gently.
“And someone threatened her family?” Fjord asked.
“Yeah, they told her if she doesn’t tell them what they want to know they were going to hurt her family,” Caleb explained.
“Why would on elf or Gnome want to hurt a Halfling?” Jester asked.
“They don’t. Threatening and kidnapping Halflings sounds more like something a goblin would do,” Nott answered.
‘Crap, how am I getting out of this one?’ Caleb asked himself.
“Caleb, are you sure it was an elf or a gnome threatening her?” Fjord asked.
Caleb soon found himself growing impatient. “Can we worry about who was threatening her later and just find her? She has a daughter that could need our help.”
He slowly got to his feet and threw some dancing lights around the group. As he looked around, he could now see they were in some kind of temple. That must’ve been the closest place Lyndon and Brody could’ve taken him.
“Well, I think it’s a good idea we know what we are up against before we just rush in,” Caduceus stated.
‘You would be wanting justice too if goblins split up your family and took your parents.’
“Can we talk about this after we’ve helped this family? The longer we are sitting here talking is time these groups are using to hurt this family,” Caleb asked.
Nott gave the wizard a look and he could tell she wasn’t happy with him.
Part of him felt bad he was lying to her, but this was the first break he had made since coming back, he wasn’t going to give up now.
Even if that meant he had to keep lying to her.
The Nein looked between one another before Yasha nodded. “Well, I suppose we should go after this family and we can talk about this later.”
Happy they were family getting somewhere and he could finally find out what happened to his parents, Caleb began making his way through the temple.
‘I going to find out what happened to my parents and no one’s going to stop me.’