The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3

by Holmberg, D. K.

  So he waited.

  It wasn’t too much longer before the constables started to regain consciousness. They moved slowly, and he could hear one of them starting to stir the other. Gavin stayed hidden on the rooftop, not wanting to reveal his presence just yet. He didn’t know who was the first one to come around, but the voice didn’t sound like James.

  Finally, another one grunted. “Where is he?”

  This was James. Gavin was certain of it.

  “Where is who?” another asked.

  “The bastard who tried to cut my balls off.”

  Someone chuckled but silenced quickly. “What happened?”

  “I told you,” James said. “The bastard had a knife to my throat and my balls. He threatened me.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to know how to find Chan.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him about the ring, dammit. Why would it matter? If he wants to summon Chan here, then let him.”

  “I don’t see Chan.”

  Gavin shifted so that he could look. In the position that he was in, he could make out the outlines of the constables, but he couldn’t see what they were doing.

  “No. He didn’t come.”

  “Do you think he got the message?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The figure who looked like James limped toward the end of the alley.

  Gavin smiled to himself. He thought he’d been a little bit more cautious with the knife to the groin, but perhaps he hadn’t been as cautious as he’d thought. The constables reached the end of the alley, and they paused while looking out.

  Gavin followed them, creeping along the rooftop. Thankfully this section of the city had roofs that weren’t nearly as sloped as in other parts, which meant he could stay up here. At the end of the alley, he flattened himself to look down. The constables moved along the street.

  He slipped down, dropping to the ground, and he started forward. Movement behind him caught his attention.

  Gavin spun, whipping the El’aras dagger around.

  Five constables were there. Davel Chan was among them.

  The other constables were all of a similar size; average build, average height, and average appearance. They had on the gray pants and jackets, each of them armed with a sword, their dark blue cloaks fluttering in the wind. Then there was Davel Chan. He was shorter than the rest, wider, and perhaps more dangerous.

  Gavin grinned. “Here I thought you’d abandoned them.”

  “That was you?” Chan asked.

  “I was the one who sent the message.”

  The constables remained arranged around the alley, as if trying to block him from going down it. Gavin wasn’t blocked from the street, though he suspected they had other ways of preventing him from going anywhere. If he was right, then there were also constables that moved along the street toward him.

  He didn’t have much time before he’d have to resolve this. Either he was going to have to fight through them, or he was going to have to come to terms with them. At this point, given how he’d been used, he was tempted to do the former.

  It wasn’t the smart move.

  Tristan had trained him better than that. Gavin could fight through five constables, but if they were enchanted, then it would be harder than he thought.

  “Did you find it?” Chan asked.

  “Really? That’s all I get?”

  Chan regarded him with a frown. He looked more confident than when Gavin had seen him before. “If you knew you were hired by the constables, would you have taken the job?”

  “Probably not.”

  “I didn’t think so. Your reputation is such that I figured you would refuse, and considering how important this item is to us, we wanted to ensure it was recovered. Where is it?”

  Gavin flashed a wide smile. He shifted to glance in either direction. James and the other two constables had stopped at the end of the street. They were looking in his direction. He didn’t have to turn around to know that there would be other constables there too.

  “I think the terms were another ten gold crowns when I found Zella.”

  “You found her.”

  “That’s what you hired me to do.”

  “If you found her, then you have the egg.”

  Gavin shrugged.

  “We have you outnumbered, Lorren. Do you really want to fight your way through us?”

  “You might have me outnumbered, and given what I’ve learned, you’re heavily enchanted as well.” He watched and waited for any sort of response, but Davel stared at Gavin, his face neutral. “You don’t want to deny it?”

  “What’s there to deny?”

  “I guess I thought that the constables would deny using enchantments.”

  “We’ve never denied that.”

  “Well, let me just tell you that I incapacitated an entire gathering of enchanters, so your paltry collection of enchantments is unlikely to pose much difficulty to me.”

  Davel simply stared at him. This was a different man than Gavin had met when he’d gone to his home. That man had seemed uncertain and easily manipulated. Of course, he’d made sure to come off that way. He’d played Gavin.

  Gavin shook his head. He flicked his gaze down the street that was now emptying out. The people who’d been there were clearing, and the constables would be all that remained. Even if he had the jade egg, it was unlikely he would get out of here easily.

  “Where is it?” Chan asked.

  “You aren’t sticking to the terms of the agreement.”

  “I’m modifying them.”

  Gavin shrugged. “Then I’m going to modify my response to them.”

  “I don’t think that’s wise.”

  “And I don’t think it’s wise for you to have challenged me.”

  Davel started to chuckle. “You really think quite highly of yourself.”

  “I know what I’m capable of. I’m guessing you don’t know that, though, which is reason enough for me to feel confident I’ll get past you.” He smiled. “Anyway, the agreement was another ten gold crowns when I found Zella, which I have. And then a remaining ten when I recover the jade egg.”

  Chan smirked. “Fine. I’ll give you the ten gold crowns as we agreed.” He reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a pouch and tossed it toward Gavin.

  Gavin crouched down, using the opportunity to search along the street and survey how many other people were there. His survey showed five coming from his left and another four coming from his right. That didn’t count James and the two other constables still there.

  Quite a few. Just for him.

  He lifted the bag and hefted it for a moment, gauging its weight. “Are you sure it’s ten?”

  “I might’ve been a little generous with you.”

  “That’s kind, but it doesn’t change the terms.”

  “Really. Then you’re going to tell me where you found Zella.”

  Gavin flashed a smile. “Those weren’t the terms.”

  “The terms were that you would get ten gold crowns when you found Zella. Now tell me where she is.”

  “Again, that wasn’t our agreement. And seeing as how you were the one who wanted to change the terms of our agreement, I don’t want to give you any reason to continue to change them.”

  “Lorren—”

  Gavin smirked. “Thanks for the gold crowns. I might have to pass on completing the rest of the assignment.”

  “You aren’t going to get out of here. If you know where to find Zella, then—”

  “I know how to find her, and I have a good idea why you want me to find her. You need the egg back so you and your constables can continue using your enchantments. I’m not so sure I’m going to have any part of that, especially not if it’s going to allow you to attack those who have any magical potential.”

  “You aren’t from Yoran. I’ll let that much slide. You don’t understand the nature of magic within the city. You don’t understand the da
nger that exists here.”

  “I might understand it better than you do. Besides, the constables were pretty useless when the city was attacked by a sorcerer not that long ago.”

  Davel’s eyes narrowed.

  Gavin cocked his head to the side, noting the steadily approaching constables. They weren’t rushing toward him, which suggested they were trying to take up positions around him. He was going to have to act quickly if he was going to do anything at all.

  “You didn’t know about that, did you?” he asked. “You had a sorcerer active in the city. From what I understand, it’s been quite a while since you’ve had any sorcerers active here, and that kind of oversight wouldn’t look very good for the constables.”

  “What are you getting at?” Davel asked.

  “You have another sorcerer active in the city.”

  “We would know.”

  Gavin scoffed. “Like you knew about the first one?”

  “There wasn’t another sorcerer.”

  “I beg to differ. In fact, there were two, though one of them didn’t really step foot in Yoran, so I suppose that doesn’t count.”

  Davel glared at him.

  “It doesn’t count, does it?”

  “No.”

  Gavin readied to move. He would have to fight a little, though hopefully not so much as to hurt anyone more than he had. “Do you have some sort of agreement with sorcerers that keeps them from Yoran?”

  “Only if they wish to live,” Davel replied.

  “I’ll take that as a yes. That’s what the egg is for?”

  It had to be more than just to provide enchantments. That might be part of it, but enchantments alone wouldn’t be enough to make it as valuable as it seemed to be to everyone.

  “With the power of the egg, we’ve prevented sorcerers from gaining traction within Yoran. You don’t know what it was like when they were here before.”

  “I can imagine,” Gavin said softly. Having seen sorcerers rule elsewhere, he knew it was never pretty.

  “If you can imagine, then you know the only way for the city to be safe is to keep sorcery at bay.”

  “By using enchanters. A weaker form of the same damn magic.”

  “It’s not the same,” Davel said.

  “You can tell yourself that. It doesn’t make it true.”

  Davel glared at him.

  Gavin just shook his head. “Anyway, the sorcerer active in the city now goes by the name of the Mistress of Vines.”

  Gavin watched him, trying to gauge his reaction, but it was difficult. Davel’s blank expression as he stared at Gavin was surprising. He was far more neutral than expected.

  Not just neutral, but skillfully so.

  Impressive.

  “Given your lack of response, I’m guessing you’ve heard the name before, and that tells me that you aren’t altogether surprised she’s active in the city. Interesting.”

  “You’ve seen her.”

  “Seen her? She hired me.”

  Davel stared. “You’re working for the Mistress of Vines?”

  “I didn’t know I was, and even now, I’m not so sure I want to be, but she did ask me to protect someone, so…” Gavin shrugged. “I figure I need to do that much at least.”

  “Who did she ask you to protect?”

  “Client confidentiality. I’m sure you can understand. I don’t imagine you want too many other people knowing that you hired me to recover the egg. For that matter, I doubt you want too many other people knowing you lost the egg in the first place.”

  “I didn’t lose it.”

  “No? Then who did? Someone must have taken it.”

  Davel stared at him.

  “Your constables are pretty good at being neutral like you. James thought he was going to get away with that, too, didn’t you, James,” Gavin said, raising his voice to carry down the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw James hesitate. Gavin smiled. “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I was trying to gather information. Seeing as how you used me, I figure you’d understand.”

  “What did you do to him?”

  “Nothing he won’t recover from. I don’t think I permanently maimed his balls, though honestly, sometimes I lose track.”

  “Enough,” Davel said. “If you know how to find Zella and the Mistress of Vines, then you need to tell us.”

  “Or what?”

  “I think you know.”

  Gavin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Why did you hire me?”

  “What was that?”

  Gavin flicked his gaze around again. He didn’t have much time left. “Why did you hire me?”

  “Because you have a reputation as being someone who’s incredibly skilled and who can work with magical items. I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard much about you before, but the information came from a reputable source.”

  “What source was that?”

  Davel said nothing.

  Gavin almost shook his head. If all of this was because of rumors spread around the city about him, and maybe by Jessica… “So you heard I was a tracker. That was it.”

  Chan frowned at him. “Is that not the case?”

  “Unfortunately for you, no.”

  Gavin focused on the core reserves of power, that magic he might possess, and he summoned it as the constables came toward him. He burst forward with a jump.

  The jump carried him up and over the constables, back toward the alley. He landed and spun, and he dropped the nearest two constables with a kick. He slammed his fist into the next constable, turned around, and drove a punch into another. By the time the constables reacted, he’d already knocked out the fourth one.

  It left only Davel Chan, who stood watching him. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes. He drove forward.

  The man was fast. When Gavin had faced the enchanters, they had moved quickly, but this was something else. His enchantments were incredible. He darted forward so fast that Gavin could barely keep up.

  Gavin scrambled to follow the movements, and he was forced down the alley, blocking each attempt, trying to parry each blow.

  “Where is the egg?” Chan asked.

  His fighting technique was exquisite. He varied between three different techniques: Sudo, a fairly common fighting technique but no less effective; Ishan, a technique well suited to such close-quarter fighting; and Jonal, a fairly rare fighting technique Gavin hadn’t seen too many others use. It was abrupt, brutal.

  And lethal.

  Thankfully, Gavin had trained in all of them and knew how to counter them, but he also knew other fighting styles that complemented them that were incredibly effective.

  Even in the close confines, he didn’t struggle. He could block, and it was only Davel’s superior—enchanted—speed that he struggled with. Gavin continued to focus, thinking about the nature of the techniques he was using, and he fell into the fighting pattern.

  He’d fought faster and more skillful opponents before. He might not have the speed Davel possessed, but he had experience and knowledge. If they were out in the open, he might not be able to withstand the attack, but here in the alley with walls on either side of him, he was protected. He could use the close quarters to overwhelm everything Davel did.

  “Not a tracker, are you?” Davel asked.

  “I think you would have discovered that had you done more research. Of course, had I looked into you, I might’ve learned a little bit more about you as well.”

  “It seems both of us were misled.”

  “Only I wasn’t the one who misled you.”

  “No? You were certainly eager enough to take the job.”

  “I should’ve known better,” Gavin said.

  “Yes. You should have.”

  “I do have to thank you. You’ve given me enough money to leave Yoran and not have to worry about finding another job for a while.”

  Davel shook his head. “You aren’t going to get out of here until I have that egg.”

  “And I’ll be honest. I don’t k
now if I can give you the egg back.”

  Gavin blocked a blow that came right at his forehead. It was quick, a sharp jab that was a misdirect. He spun, and the wall prevented him from getting out of the way.

  Davel twisted, swinging his hip around. With the speed he operated at, it looked almost lazy.

  Gavin knew it was anything but. He dropped, pushing off of the wall, sliding forward and bringing his fist up. Davel rotated, catching Gavin’s fist between his thighs and squeezing. Gavin flipped back up and kicked toward Davel, driving his foot at the man’s shoulder.

  The move freed his hand, and he spun around, trying to position so that he could see Davel. But the shift had put the other constables between him and escape.

  Davel stood in front of him. Either Gavin was going to have to overpower him, or he was going to have to find a way out. He’d already used energy from his core reserves, and there was only so much power remaining. He didn’t want to risk depleting too much of that power until he knew more about what Davel was capable of.

  “I need the egg,” Davel said. “I’m sure you can understand why it’s valuable to us. If you faced a sorcerer in the city, then you understand just how important that is.”

  “Obviously the egg isn’t so important to you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have lost it.”

  “And I said we didn’t.”

  “No? Somebody stole it from you?”

  Davel didn’t say anything.

  Gavin tried to prepare for anything that Davel might do to him, but he wasn’t sure what it would take. He twisted again, and he focused on his attack. He’d have to find a way to escape by using the energy he had left.

  The constables behind him approached slowly.

  He was ready for anything.

  Or so he thought.

  Davel shifted his attack and barreled toward him. Gavin barely jumped in time. Had he not been already calling upon his core reserves, it may not have been enough. He managed to launch in the air, but he didn’t have the space to maneuver and kick.

  He grabbed for a low overhang and pulled himself up to the rooftop. Crouching there, he looked down at Davel.

  “You aren’t going to be able to get away from there,” Davel said.

  “You don’t know that,” Gavin said.

  “I know better than you.”

  Davel jumped and reached the rooftop quickly, which surprised Gavin again. He was enchanted. Heavily enchanted.