The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3

by Holmberg, D. K.

  “How long do you think this will be?” Gaspar asked.

  Gavin shook his head. “I don’t really know.” He looked down at the ground. The body resembled Anna closely enough that it would be worth taking a second look. With the enchantment she’d placed on it, he suspected it would pass even a closer inspection, but he worried about whether the second inspection would involve magic. If so, whoever performed the inspection would likely realize an enchantment had been placed, and they would lose their opportunity.

  He was determined to find Cyran. This was his only chance.

  “What makes you think he’s going to come out here?” Gaspar whispered.

  “If Cyran’s my employer, he’s going to want to know whether or not I lived.”

  “What makes you think he won’t have another way of finding out?”

  “If Hamish went to him”—and Gavin was still operating on the assumption that Cyran had hired Hamish, who had then hired him—“then he’ll question it. I don’t know why, but he wanted me removed as part of this job.”

  Why this one, though? Unless he hadn’t cared.

  Gavin would’ve thought that he’d be far more useful to Cyran alive rather than dead because then Cyran could continue to use him for whatever jobs he wanted. For whatever reason, it’d been decided that now was the time to remove him.

  A soft whistle pierced the forest. It sounded something like a bird, but the call was not quite right and certainly not one found in the forest normally. That was the whistle they were waiting for. Gavin and Gaspar backed away, moving out of the clearing.

  “I think her whistle was a bit too sharp,” Gavin said.

  “You tell Imogen that.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Are you afraid of her?” Gaspar whispered. There was a hint of mirth in the question.

  “Aren’t you?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve known her longer though. My fear comes from the time I’ve worked with her.”

  “And mine comes from seeing her stab a man in the back.”

  “We went over this with her already. You know that wasn’t her you saw,” Gaspar said.

  Gaspar and Imogen had discussed this when she’d returned to the Dragon last night. Gavin had witnessed the exchange and had come to trust that it wasn’t her. He didn’t understand what had happened, only that magic had been involved—and that Imogen hadn’t done what he’d feared.

  Gavin shrugged. He moved next to a tree and lingered under a branch, staying in the shadows. If only he had an enchantment that would hide him, but those sorts of things were incredibly expensive.

  He tapped on his other ear. “Are you ready?”

  “I’m watching,” Anna whispered.

  Her enchantment was a little different and far easier for her to control. She’d created this one, so she could not only control it but also adjust the volume. Gavin wished he could do the same with his.

  He flicked his gaze to the treetops. There was no sign of her, though he knew she was there. In his mind, she and Thomas were here for a different reason. He’d seen the enchantment on the door Cyran had placed. If Cyran were to use something explosive like that again, the two El’aras would be the only ones who could withstand it.

  Gavin watched through the trees. Another whistle sounded, this one soft and barely more than a chirp.

  North.

  Imogen was following them through the forest. Gavin hadn’t been entirely sure whether she was going to be able to, but she was skilled.

  “I have to give her credit,” he whispered.

  “Tell her, not me,” said Gaspar.

  “I’m telling you so you can tell her, if something happens and I don’t make it out of here.”

  “Do you think it matters then?”

  “I don’t know. It matters to me.”

  Gaspar shot him a look in the distance. “You’re going to get out of here just fine. I’m the old one, remember?”

  “It’s pretty hard for me to forget,” Gavin said, laughing again.

  There was another whistle. East. Hamish was weaving through the forest in a roundabout approach.

  Gavin twisted, positioning himself so that he was out of sight as the potential approach came, but he didn’t see anything.

  Another whistle. South.

  “Something’s off,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin nodded. “That’s my concern.”

  “She’s doing her best to track it, but—”

  Another whistle. This one was sharp. It signaled concern.

  “Go to her,” Gavin said.

  “You might need my help,” said Gaspar.

  “And she definitely needs your help. Go to her.”

  Gaspar frowned before nodding to him. “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “I thought you didn’t like it when I chattered in your ear.”

  “I don’t, but I think—”

  Another whistle.

  Gaspar spun and headed into the trees without saying anything else, leaving Gavin alone.

  “Do you see anything?” he asked Anna through the enchantment.

  “There is no presence here other than what we’ve already uncovered.”

  “Are you sure of it?”

  “If there was movement here in the forest, I would know.”

  He looked down at the body of the fake Anna. It didn’t move, but something about it started to change. A moment passed before he realized what it was: There was a hint of shimmering energy around it.

  “Something’s here,” he whispered.

  Gavin tried to be as quiet as he could, not wanting to draw any attention to whoever was here. He glanced down at the El’aras dagger. The blade glowed with a bright light. There was power here, although he didn’t need the dagger to know that.

  The body started to move—not the kind of movement that indicated someone was dragging it, but the kind of movement that suggested that the body was being reanimated from death.

  His breath caught. It looked as if the fake Anna were dancing in some sort of rhythmic death movement. Even knowing that it wasn’t Anna, he found this difficult to see. He watched the body as it marched through the forest in strange jerking motions. It strode away from him, leaving him unsettled and hesitant as to what to do next.

  He followed the body. “Are you seeing this?”

  “There is something that prevents me from seeing anything,” Anna whispered.

  “It looks like you’re walking away.”

  “Me?”

  “Well, not you, but the body.”

  “You should be cautious,” Anna said.

  “I didn’t think you were concerned about me.”

  “You are my way of getting the Shard back.”

  Gavin would’ve laughed were it not for the dead body rhythmically dancing its way through the forest. He paused at another tree and pressed his head against it, feeling the coolness of the bark. A strange chill washed over him. It came from the body, or at least from watching the body. The feeling left him troubled as the body danced, moving along the ground, feet dragging lifelessly.

  Anna couldn’t help, but what about Thomas?

  “Send Thomas,” Gavin said.

  “What do you think Thomas might do that you cannot?”

  Gavin trailed the animated body, tamping down the fear coursing through him. He marveled at the idea that whoever was controlling this could have that much power.

  “I’m sure that he can do more than I can when it comes to this,” he said.

  “When this is over, Gavin Lorren, we will have to have a conversation about just what you are capable of.”

  He shook his head. He didn’t care about any of that, only that she send help. He needed Thomas to help him stop whoever controlled the corpse.

  The body moved away while he waited for Thomas, but the El’aras was taking far too long. The minutes ticked by, and Gavin decided to go off on his own. So much for a plan.

  A whistle sounded from deeper in the forest, and he hes
itated.

  Strange. What did this whistle indicate?

  Before, Imogen had been whistling to signal where Hamish was traveling, but now he had no idea what this one meant. This couldn’t be about Hamish.

  Did they need help?

  He tapped on his enchantment. “Gaspar, do you need—”

  “Stay back,” he heard through the enchantment.

  He’d muted it.

  But not intentionally.

  The voice on the other side of the enchantment sounded like Gaspar, but there was more terror in his voice than Gavin had ever heard before. He glanced around, and the body continued to march quickly through the forest.

  He needed Anna. He tapped on the other enchantment and hesitated. The body had stopped.

  “Where’s Thomas?” he asked.

  “He should be coming,” she whispered.

  The whistle came again. Gavin turned and headed toward it.

  As he ran through the forest, he came across Thomas. “Find the body. Follow it. I don’t know what they’re doing with it, but that will lead you to whoever is controlling it.”

  “Controlling it?”

  Gavin had already started off, but the question made him stop and turn. “Someone is controlling the body. I’m not really sure what’s going on. They have magic, which means you’re better equipped to stop them.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Something happened.”

  The whistle came again. Gavin ran. As he did, he tapped on the enchantment again. “I’m coming, Gaspar.”

  There was nothing but silence on the other end. He focused on his core strength again and drew upon the energy within him to race toward the source of the sound. The forest blurred past. He reached where he thought the whistle had come from. There was no sign of Gaspar. There was no sign of Imogen.

  The El’aras dagger glowed in his hand, and he realized he could use the light to see what was here, the same way he’d found the Shard. He closed his eyes and turned in place. Unlike when he was inside the manor house, this time he moved with a sense of urgency. As he turned, he felt something slide across him. The resistance.

  Gavin opened his eyes and started toward it. He took several steps and then froze.

  Imogen hung from one of the trees. She was grabbing the rope around her neck and kicking wildly, a look of desperation in her eyes.

  He unsheathed one of the knives he carried. He’d practiced throwing knives in his training, but it’d been quite a while since he’d attempted anything like this. Cutting the rope would take a perfect throw. He had no idea if he’d have the accuracy.

  Gavin took a steadying breath and hurled the knife. It whistled through the air and struck the rope, carving through it. Imogen crashed to the ground and rolled to her feet. She raced toward him as she peeled the rope off her neck. From what he could see, aside from being shaken, she was physically unharmed.

  “Are you okay? Where’s Gaspar?” he asked.

  Her breaths were ragged. “Don’t know. Dragged away.”

  “Dragged away? By who?”

  “Not a who. A what.”

  There were all sorts of creatures in the forest, though few ever got close enough to the city to pose much of a danger. They were on the border of El’aras lands, where the creatures tended to be more dangerous.

  He closed his eyes, focusing on the El’aras dagger again. Turning slowly, Gavin felt for the resistance that might be in the forest. He didn’t feel it where it had been before, which told him that whatever power had been holding onto Imogen had been released. That didn’t mean they were out of danger here though. Gavin made a circuit while holding onto the dagger, but he didn’t feel anything.

  What was going on? Hamish had tried to distract him, which meant Cyran was going to get away—

  Cyran.

  He opened his eyes. “Come with me.”

  “Gaspar still needs our help.”

  “And I think I know where to find him.”

  Gavin raced through the forest. Imogen kept up, almost as if she were floating.

  Did she have magic of some sort?

  He hadn’t seen any signs from her, but he knew she was incredibly talented. Gaspar wouldn’t have a magic user around him, especially in a place like Yoran where there was such a suspicion of magic. Then again, Gaspar hadn’t seemed all that troubled by Gavin’s use of enchantments or by any of the other magical circumstances that had occurred. Maybe he didn’t care.

  Gavin raced past the clearing where he’d first waited with the body. There was a crackling in his ear, not from Gaspar or from Anna, but almost as if there was some sort of interference with the magical communication.

  He followed the trail across the forest floor, which had formed where the corpse’s feet had dragged across the ground. The undergrowth had been disturbed, with thorns and leaves and the soft ground itself all creating a path he could easily follow. Gavin swept his gaze back and forth around him, looking for the body.

  Then he found it. Thomas faced the corpse with his sword unsheathed as if preparing to fight.

  But why?

  Something was taking place here.

  A flicker of movement behind Gavin caught his attention. He noticed Gaspar watching and waiting, an unreadable expression on his face. He remained hidden near a massive tree, the shadows of the forest concealing him.

  The El’aras dagger suddenly blazed with bright light. Gavin grabbed Imogen and pulled her to the ground. They rolled so that magic wouldn’t strike them, but nothing came.

  “What was that about?” she whispered.

  He shook his head. “Something’s not quite right. I don’t know what, only that—”

  “You can come out, Gavin. I know you’re there.”

  He recognized Hamish’s voice, but that wouldn’t have been enough for Thomas and Gaspar to be on edge.

  “If you can hear me, let me know in some way,” he whispered into both of his enchantments.

  “I can hear you quite well,” Hamish said.

  Balls.

  Had Hamish been able to hear him through the enchantment all this time? That didn’t seem likely. Which meant he had Gaspar’s enchantment.

  Gavin had to know for sure. He tapped on the one he shared with Anna and whispered, “Is it possible for him to listen in on our conversation?”

  “He should not have control over it,” Anna said.

  Gavin exhaled in relief. “Can you see anything from where you are?”

  “Nothing that can help. Thomas is troubled by something.”

  “I think he’s troubled by Hamish, but there’s something else too. The dagger is glowing brightly. There’s magic here. Considerable magic.”

  “Then it might be your friend.”

  He had a hard time thinking that Cyran was that powerful, but what if he was? He held onto the dagger and started forward, moving slowly. Imogen stayed with him. He pulled one of his belt knives out and handed it to her. “At least it’s something.”

  Gavin lingered for a moment. Then he darted forward.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The forest around him seemed to have gone completely still. The air hung, waiting in anticipation. There was no sound other than his beating heart and his breathing, which were both far too loud in his ears. He turned and looked for the attacker but found nothing. Something had to be here though. Thomas stood frozen in place before the animated corpse. Hamish’s robes billowed around him, though they were the only things that moved.

  Could it be magic?

  Gavin had never known Hamish to have magic, but it was possible he had enchantments.

  “Thomas?” he whispered.

  “Something is amiss. A danger I have not faced before,” Thomas said.

  Gavin turned his attention to Hamish. “What are you doing?”

  Hamish eyed the El’aras dagger. “An interesting weapon for you to carry.”

  “I took it from one of my attackers. I thought it might be useful.”

&n
bsp; “A blade like that would be quite valuable. I suppose our employer might be willing to purchase it from you.”

  “It’s not for sale,” Gavin said.

  “Everything is for sale.”

  “Not the dagger.”

  Hamish stared at him. “You should return to the city.”

  “I don’t think so. I need to know what’s going on here.”

  “What’s going on is that I am claiming the body.”

  Gavin couldn’t sense whether Hamish believed the enchantment Anna had placed over it, but he doubted it would hold against someone truly able to use magic. He wasn’t completely convinced Hamish was that person. The man might have some control over power, but as far as Gavin could tell, Hamish wasn’t the powerful one.

  “Where is our employer?” he asked.

  “I’m afraid that’s not how it works. If you want to keep taking jobs, you will need to maintain a certain distance. That is how he likes to do things.”

  “Then you’re confirming our employer is a man? I’ve become all too aware of how he likes to do things.” Gavin held out the dagger and took a step toward Hamish. Something else was still bothering him. He didn’t understand the purpose of the Hamish look-alike that had been killed, other than to conceal his departure. Neither did he understand the purpose behind the Imogen look-alike. There was something behind these deceptions, some key he was still missing.

  “I’m tired of doing things without meeting face-to-face with him,” he continued. “At this point, I would like to see him. If I’m going to continue taking jobs, I want to know who’s employing me. And who’s taking my partner’s enchantment.”

  “As you can well understand, he prefers to have a level of anonymity. I believe that in your line of work, you can appreciate the need for anonymity.”

  Gavin took another step toward him, squeezing the El’aras blade. He could feel resistance coming from the blade, almost as if there was pressure as he moved toward Hamish.

  He shook his head. “The time for anonymity is past us. Besides, I need to know who to thank for such perfectly arranged jobs.”