The power within him exploded.
The Chain Breaker was free.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cyran pulled the Shard free from Thomas’s neck. Gavin didn’t think he was dead—yet. The Shard reflected the light around it, glowing softly with a strange purplish color. He turned to Gavin and held the Shard outward, grinning at him. Everything around Gavin began to blur, as if he was losing focus. Bands of power began to swirl around again. There was energy in the air, but that energy couldn’t overwhelm him anymore. This time, he knew he could withstand that pressure.
He glared at Cyran as he held his hands out to either side and pressed outward. He needed to get this over with and make sure that Cyran didn’t harm anyone else. The only problem was that Gavin didn’t know if he could.
A hint of power flowed from Cyran, and Gavin could feel the bands trying to constrict around him again. The magic was strong, but he was able to resist it now.
“Look at this,” Cyran said, taking a step toward him. The Shard glistened with blood. “What enchantment do you have now?”
Gavin didn’t correct him. It might be better for Cyran to think he was using enchantments. As it was, he didn’t have any way to explain the power he drew upon. Bands swirled around him again but slipped past him.
He smiled.
Anna. She had to be the reason that the magic wasn’t affecting me.
“Give me the Shard,” Gavin said.
“Or what?” Cyran stared at him. “I’m not afraid of you, Gavin. You might think you’re intimidating to everyone else. The Chain Breaker. The assassin. I know you.” He turned toward Gavin. The end of the Shard continued to glisten, and Gavin could feel something else too. An energy that came from the Shard seemed to hang in the air. “I know you won’t do anything to harm me. You care too much about me.”
The way he said it suggested that Cyran viewed caring as a weakness. If it was, then so be it. Gavin didn’t mind having that weakness. He’d survived his training to hold onto that, despite what Tristan thought of him.
“You don’t want me to be your enemy,” Gavin said.
“You didn’t even know I was your enemy for all these months. What makes you think I’m concerned about you? You’ve been working on my behalf, serving as I demanded of you. And in all that time, you had no idea about what you were doing or who you were working for. Do you think I haven’t prepared for all of this?”
“Obviously, you haven’t. If you’d prepared for all of it, you would’ve been able to acquire the Risen Shard on your own. You needed me for that, and you needed me to help you remove the El’aras.”
“Perhaps I did. It was easier. Sumter failed, so I involved you, my backup, who became my primary plan. This way, I didn’t have to risk myself. Why risk myself when I could put you out there? I knew better than to go after that kind of power directly. Then again, that wasn’t the way I was taught.”
Cyran took another step toward him. The bands of power started to swirl again, and Gavin fought them, trying to pull upon his core energy. The power tightened and constricted around him.
Would I be able to withstand what Cyran was doing? The previous attack had been deflected because of Anna, but where was she now?
“Our master taught me to work in the shadows,” Cyran said. “He told me that was going to be my strength. I could assist and supplement, but he never expected me to be the one with any real power.” He smiled darkly. “Little did he know.”
Gavin shook his head. “I can’t believe all of this is about revenge.”
Cyran laughed. His voice carried into the forest, into the trees, and then faded. “If this was only about revenge, I would have acted long ago. I haven’t been afraid of you for a long time, Gavin. In fact, I doubt you could do anything to harm me. No. This has not been about revenge. Not for a long time. This has been about taking my next step.”
“You keep saying that, but you don’t even know what that means.”
“It means I will gain the power to overthrow my mentor.”
“Tristan?”
“Tristan is dead,” Cyran said. “Thankfully.”
“Then which mentor?”
“Who do you think taught me?”
“I don’t know. Whomever it was made a mistake,” said Gavin.
“A mistake? They pursued me. They recognized my potential. They recognized it in a way Tristan never did. He never appreciated what I did for him, or the power I possessed. He never fully appreciated anything about me.”
“You never really understood him then.”
“Enough.” Cyran held the Shard out and jabbed it toward him. Something surged from the end of it and slammed into Gavin. “You’re going to help me use the Shard.”
“You’ve already tried to.”
“I tried on an illusion. You’re going to help me find the real Risen Shard.” He took another step closer with the Shard pointing at him. Gavin tried to stand firm, but the energy that exploded off the end of the Shard slammed into him again, knocking him back.
Where was Anna?
He needed her help. He hoped the power she could summon would be able to unravel what Cyran did.
“All of this for power,” Gavin said. “You never really understood the nature of what Tristan tried to teach you.” And all of this with his master looking for him.
Did Cyran know the sorcerer had sent Gavin to find him?
It seemed a stretch, almost too much to believe.
“You think he didn’t want us to have power? With everything he taught?”
“He wanted us to have power, but he wanted us to know the proper way to use it. Obviously, that’s a lesson you don’t understand. Perhaps you weren’t smart enough to.”
Gavin looked over, and Gaspar and Thomas remained frozen. How much longer would they be able to withstand what Cyran did to them? He had to figure something out—and quickly.
Cyran took another step toward him. Gavin tried to embrace the core energy within and pressed outward. He held onto the same power he used before, focusing on the way he’d been trained and the energy needed to break through the invisible chains that Cyran was holding him in.
Nothing happened. Cyran was using more power, more magic, than what Gavin was able to withstand. It was too much for him.
“Where is she?” Cyran said, looking around. “She’s close. I can smell her.”
There was a flicker of movement as Anna dropped down from a tree. She landed in the clearing and turned toward Cyran, unleashing power at him. It washed over him harmlessly.
Gavin could see the look of horror on Thomas’s face. Cyran turned toward Anna, a grin splitting his face. With a twist of his wrist, she was thrown back. She gathered herself and stood, and then he knocked her down again.
“I have trained for this day,” Cyran said to her. “Obviously, you cannot say the same.”
The power he was holding exploded again. It slammed into Anna, a concussive blast that threw her to the ground. She collapsed in the center of the clearing, lying motionless.
Thomas lunged, but Cyran turned to him. He twisted his hand, and Thomas’s eyes went wide. Cyran glanced over his shoulder, looking back at Gaspar and Imogen. “I think it’s time that your friends were removed from this equation as well.”
With another flick of his wrist, each of them stiffened and then went completely still.
Finally, Cyran turned toward Gavin. “I told you I didn’t fear you. How could I, when I have far more power than you could even imagine?”
He pressed the Shard against Gavin’s neck. The sensation of it was cold, strange, familiar. It reminded Gavin of the sh’rasn Anna had forced him to drink. Energy washed through him now, the same way he’d felt when he drank the elixir. There was a surge of power, almost as if his core strength was restored.
It was a strange feeling, but he was aware of the energy flowing up within him, powering him and restoring his core. There was something more within it too. The magic around him took on a more disc
rete form, as if coming into contact with the Shard allowed him to feel the bindings that were wrapped around him.
He forced his hands downward. The El’aras blade snapped through the bindings, and Cyran was thrown back.
The others were still motionless. Gavin had to act quickly.
He turned to Cyran and spun. Something started to wrap around him, but he imagined the chains around him and drew upon power, shattering them.
He stabbed with the El’aras dagger. It caught Cyran in the shoulder, and he dropped the Shard. Gavin rolled and picked it up, then held it out toward Cyran.
Cyran clutched his shoulder, glaring at Gavin. “Do you think I need that for power?”
Another band of energy began to constrict around Gavin, but the Shard seemed to protect him. He could feel the power building from Cyran as he started to twist his hands, his lips murmuring wordlessly to form whatever spell he intended to use.
If Gavin waited too long, he ran the risk of Cyran conjuring more power than he’d be able to withstand. He’d gotten lucky so far. His reserves of energy had saved him, allowing him to break the chains of magic.
Would I be able to disrupt another spell—possibly a more violent and dangerous one?
He didn’t think he would. He needed to act, to disarm Cyran. The problem was that he needed Cyran alive in order to protect the others and finish the job the way he intended.
Cyran began to turn toward Gavin.
Gavin wouldn’t wait. He couldn’t wait.
He darted forward and stabbed Cyran’s other shoulder, rendering his hands useless.
“I think you do fear me,” Gavin said as Cyran’s eyes widened. He slammed the hilt of the El’aras dagger into Cyran’s head.
He crumpled, and Gavin slumped to the ground, exhaustion taking him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Gavin didn’t let himself rest for long. He held onto the Shard, which seemed to give him reserves of energy he didn’t have before.
How much longer would I be able to use that, though?
Gavin suspected the Shard would eventually be tapped out, and then he’d be drawing upon his own strength. As he’d seen over the last few days, there were limits to how much he could use. He maintained his connection to the Shard and headed toward Anna first.
He touched her shoulder, and she stirred, her eyes snapping open. Something grabbed him around his throat and squeezed, but she relaxed her magic when she saw him. She sat up and took the Shard from him.
Anna got to her feet and hurried over to Thomas. She tapped on his forehead, and when he awoke, he jumped up with his sword out. He made his way over to Cyran and held the tip of his sword to Cyran’s neck. Anna then used her magic to revive Gaspar and Imogen. Either that, or she resurrected them. He didn’t really know.
“Thank you,” she said to Gavin.
“I’m sorry it went that far.”
“You don’t need to be sorry. You did well. Better than I would’ve expected without any additional training.”
Gavin smirked, not really sure about the nature of the compliment. “I can’t let you take him,” he said, looking over to where Thomas was wrapping a strange metal band around Cyran’s wrists.
“I’m afraid he has to come with us.”
Gavin shook his head. “I need to take care of him.”
“He attempted to kill me.”
“I’m not so sure he wanted you dead, so much as he wanted your power. I don’t claim to know what that can do,” he said, nodding to the crystal, “but it seems to be considerable power. That was what he wanted. He intended to absorb your power and seemed to think he could use it to strengthen himself.”
“It is possible it would’ve worked,” she said.
“It is?”
“The Shard is incredibly powerful.”
“Powerful enough he could steal your magic?” Gavin asked.
“There are many aspects of power it can influence.”
“Regardless,” he said, shaking his head, “I can’t let you take him.”
“May I ask why not? If this is simply about protecting a friend—”
“Our friendship was destroyed the moment he turned against me.” Gavin was going to have to think through everything he’d experienced with Cyran, especially the nature of what he’d gone through. It might be that there was more he’d have to come to terms with. “But I need him because I was hired to collect him.”
Gaspar coughed, a look of surprise and confusion on his face.
“The Apostle,” Gavin said.
“Are you sure?” Gaspar asked.
“Not entirely, but I think so. I suspect that Cyran is the sorcerer’s apprentice. Or had been. He wanted Anna’s power and the Shard so he could overthrow his master.”
“How do you know he’s the Apostle, though?” Gaspar asked. He hobbled into the clearing, his gaze still darting around as it always seemed to do, looking into the shadows as if he could see something hidden there. Imogen leaned on one of the trees, silent as always.
“It was the type of magic he used. The power he used to trap us was the same as the sorcerer’s.” Gavin turned toward Anna. “I had a job to do. I was hired to find the Apostle.”
“After what he did, I’m afraid he has to come with us.”
“If he does, then all of my friends will die. I can’t withstand the power of another sorcerer.”
Anna watched him, frowning. “You might be surprised.”
He started for Cyran, and Thomas swept the sword toward him. Anna caught the blade with her hand. The El’aras sword left no mark.
Strange.
Gavin grabbed Cyran and lifted him. “I take it these bands on his wrists, whatever they are, will prevent him from using magic?”
“They are enchantments that will restrict his ability to use his power,” Anna said.
“Good. What about you?”
“We have kept the Shard in Yoran for some time now. Unfortunately, it seems as if it has been discovered. The El’aras who attacked you in the tavern proves that. I think it’s time for us to move on.”
“Move on where?”
She looked over at Thomas before turning her attention back to Gavin. “I don’t know, but I don’t know that you need to know either.”
There was a part of Gavin that felt a hint of regret at that. “I’m sorry for all of this.”
“You are not to blame.”
“Well, I am a little bit. Had I not broken into your home initially and come after you, you wouldn’t have had to move, and the Shard wouldn’t have been taken from you. And had I not gone back into your home, I wouldn’t have found the Shard, and we wouldn’t have had to go through any of this.” He flashed a smile and shook his head. “It seems to me that all of this is my fault. Maybe I needed to do a better job of picking my jobs. Here I thought you were a slaver.”
“When have you ever known the El’aras to be slavers?” There was a real sense of hurt in Anna’s question.
“I didn’t know you were El’aras at the time. That was one aspect of the job that hadn’t been shared with me.”
“And if it had been shared with you? What would you have done?”
Gavin looked at her, fixing her with a hard stare. The answer was complicated. He didn’t know, and he didn’t know how to answer her. Perhaps the best response was none at all. At least he wouldn’t be lying to her.
“Why have you been hiding in the city?” he asked.
She watched him; her lips pressed into a frown. “I am the Risen Shard.”
“I still don’t know what that means.”
“Perhaps if you begin to understand the El’aras, then you might.”
“The El’aras that attacked me in the tavern and harmed my friend weren’t with you, but who were they?” She said nothing, and Gavin thought he understood. Cyran had told him about the factions of El’aras. “They were looking for you,” he said.
She tipped her head in a slight nod.
Gavin glanced over at Cy
ran. “Did he send them after you?”
“I suspect they learned of me following your attack. Perhaps it was all part of his plan to draw me out. A complicated one, at that. It means that he is far more attuned to the workings of magic in the world than I would have known.”
“I think he’s tied to a powerful sorcerer.”
“You are probably right, which is even more reason for him to come with us, so we may ensure that he does not do any more damage.”
“What sort of damage do you think he might do?”
Her expression darkened. “The El’aras have suffered enough. We do not need to be pitted against each other at a sorcerer’s whim.”
“Is that what happened?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Regardless, it is time that we move on. We will keep the Shard protected.”
“I could help.”
She tilted her head to the side and frowned. “Perhaps eventually. For now, Gavin Lorren, you must come to know yourself.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”
She offered a hint of a smile. “Not yet, but you will. I don’t think you have much choice.”
He wondered why that would be, though he had a sense from Anna that she wouldn’t tell him anything more than she’d already shared. Maybe that was enough.
“Journey well,” Gavin said, pressing his fist to his chest and leaning forward. It was a formal departure salute, but in this setting, he thought it fitting.
Anna tapped her ear and then withdrew a small silver circle. She handed it to Gavin. “If you have need of me, use this. Consider it an enchantment.”
“About that…”
* * *
The forest clearing was bright. Gavin had been unwilling to come at any other time, hesitating to do so unless it was daylight out. He’d continued to knock Cyran unconscious, not wanting him awake when they met in the heart of the forest. He didn’t want to talk with him at all. Gavin thought that was the best option when it came to Cyran.
Gaspar was with him, his hand on the hilt of his knives, his gaze darting all around. Imogen moved silently, hidden in the trees. Gavin still hadn’t figured out her secret, though he knew she had one.
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 26