Olivia shook her head. “She promised to use it to help.”
“For what purpose?”
“To break what happened to us,” she said softly.
They viewed it as a curse. Of course they did.
“You didn’t know she’d go after the Captain?”
She shook her head.
“I’m going to do what I can to get it back, but I can’t make any guarantees,” he said.
“You owe them more than that,” Gaspar said.
Gavin shot him a hard look. “You’re the one who put me on to this job in the first place. I wouldn’t have taken any of this.”
“That’s not true,” Wrenlow told him quietly.
Gavin sighed. Wrenlow was right. He might have taken the job anyway. Gavin wasn’t a tracker, even though he’d been hired that way, and yet he also couldn’t stand by if somebody was suffering and he had some ability to help.
“Now that we have that established,” Gavin said, “I was hoping that you might be able to offer us an enchantment.”
“What sort of enchantment?” Olivia asked.
“I’m looking for anything that might help us. What sort of specialty do you have?”
“Specialty?” Gaspar asked.
“Enchanters tend to have comfort zones,” Gavin said, ignoring Gaspar’s pointed look in his direction. “Which means that Olivia probably has certain things that she’s more comfortable with. I’ve seen two enchanters who turn small figurines into weapons.”
“Mekal and Kegan,” Olivia said, nodding. “They’ve used those to protect us over the years.”
“So they have,” Gavin said. “And I have a feeling they don’t have other skills beyond that, except for Kegan’s memory ability.”
“Some, but you’re right. They’re more comfortable with that technique.”
He leaned forward. “What about you?”
“Mine aren’t terribly impressive. I can make things happen more quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can help flowers grow, or I can make time speed up, or at least seem to.”
“Can you make us faster?”
Having seen something similar with the constables, and in particular with Davel Chan, Gavin couldn’t help but wish for something that might give him that advantage. If he could move more quickly, or at least appear to, he could take on any power that might be there.
“There might be something that I can do,” she said. Olivia headed over to a cabinet, pulled out a box, and brought it back. She set three bracelets down on the table. All were made of gold or silver, and far more ornate than anything Gavin would wear. They were probably incredibly valuable too. Maybe not thirty gold crowns valuable, but still valuable.
“What are these?” Wrenlow asked.
Olivia held his gaze for a moment and smiled, then looked back down. Gavin chuckled softly. Leave it to Wrenlow to get involved with a woman who looked like she was fifteen but was probably thirty-five.
“I should be able to enchant these bracelets. I can only do two or three at a time.” She looked at Gavin. “After that, it will take me a few days to recover.”
Whatever she could generate would be all they would have.
“Do you have any way of determining what other enchantments might do?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not really. That’s not my skill set. There are some who can know the purpose of an enchantment just by holding it, but unfortunately, that’s not me.”
“Like who?”
“Zella.”
Gavin grunted. That wasn’t going to be of much use. He let out a long sigh, and she picked up one of the bracelets, cupped it in hand, and closed her eyes. There came a flash of light from between her hands, and she handed the bracelet to him.
“Try it on,” she said.
The bracelet had changed during the process of enchanting it. It was still silver, but now it was a plain band, no longer ornate. He slipped it onto his wrist, and it fit perfectly, as if made for him and only him.
He got up and then took a step.
As soon as he moved, he could feel the difference. Something within the bracelet seemed to give him the ability to control how quickly he moved. He darted around the room, avoiding the chairs and the table. He nearly crashed into the hearth before skidding to a stop and taking a seat back at the table.
“That will work,” he said.
“I don’t know how many times you can use it,” she said. “Unfortunately, my enchantments have a limit.”
“If it gives us the ability to use that even a little, that’s more than what we had before,” Gavin said.
She picked up another bracelet and squeezed it. As before, there was a flash of light. When it faded, she held it out. Wrenlow reached for it, but Gaspar stretched across the table and batted his hand away. He grabbed the bracelet and slipped it onto his wrist.
“I think we both know it’ll be more useful for me,” he said to Wrenlow.
Wrenlow frowned. “What about me?”
“I can try to make a third,” Olivia said.
She grabbed the third bracelet and cupped it in her hands.
“It might be better for Imogen,” Gavin said.
“Imogen won’t take it,” Gaspar said.
Gavin ran his finger along the surface of the bracelet. “Is that because she doesn’t need it? Or because she has some other way of accessing power?”
Gaspar stared at him. “I don’t need to answer that.”
One of these days, he was going to have to find out Imogen’s secret. There was a secret, regardless of what Gaspar wanted him to believe. For all Gavin knew, maybe Gaspar wanted him to believe that there was a secret.
What if she was simply highly trained, the same way I am?
There had to be more to it. He’d seen her fight the sorcerer, and she had handled herself quite well. She’d managed to withstand a sorcerer’s attack without struggling nearly as much as somebody without any sort of natural defense would. He still suspected that there was something more to her that gave her those advantages.
“Here,” Olivia said. “I don’t know if it’s complete, so don’t rely on it too many times, but maybe it will protect you.”
Wrenlow took the bracelet from her, his hand lingering near hers for just a moment before he slipped the bracelet on his wrist. “Now I can be like you,” he said to Gavin.
“I’m not so sure that’s what you should aspire to,” Gaspar grunted.
“Would you leave him alone?” Gavin said.
“Fine. How about we get going?” Gaspar asked.
“Just like that? No plan?”
“What’s there to plan? You and I are going in. Wrenlow will spot for us,” he said, nodding to Wrenlow, “and Imogen will clean up anybody who’s outside and coming toward us. Does that sound like a reasonable plan?”
“Reasonable enough,” Gavin said.
“Good. I’m glad you’re not going to argue with me about that as well.”
“When have I ever argued with you about your plans?” Gavin asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. How about every single time the two of us are forced to work together.”
Gavin chuckled. “We aren’t forced to work together. We can stop at any time.” He looked at the others with him—his team. They were risking themselves with him. Wrenlow was right. He didn’t have to do things alone. “Let’s go get the egg and stop the Mistress of Vines.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gavin stalked along the street outside of the Captain’s fortress. He’d been here not that long ago and for a very different reason. Now he was coming here to somehow protect the Captain and to defend the fortress.
Lights glowed in windows, which illuminated the entirety of the building. It looked imposing in the darkness. If he didn’t know any better, he would think that there wasn’t anything that the Mistress of Vines would even be able to do against the Captain. But given her power and the support she would likely have from the ot
her enchanters, she would be an effective opponent.
Gavin had seen fighting similar to what would likely happen here. When magical attacks occurred in places with similar views of magic as Yoran, things became dangerous.
He had to help. He didn’t know if he had enough understanding of his own power to do so, but he had to try. Rather than the El’aras dagger, he held onto the sword. It had a bit better reach, and he’d seen how intense its effect was when it came to cutting through magic. That was what he needed now.
Gavin didn’t know what else he could do, but he had to believe the sword might carve through anything that would come toward him. He lingered in the darkness near the wall around the building.
“Are you ready?” Gaspar whispered through the enchantment.
He didn’t know where the other man was. He was somewhere distant, far enough along the wall that Gavin would have to search for him, but in the darkness it was difficult to see anything.
“As ready as I’m going to be. You do know what happened the last time we came in here.”
“You came out with the girl.”
“I got beat up with magic. I’m not that excited about the prospect of the same thing happening again.”
“Then don’t get beat up,” Gaspar said.
Wrenlow laughed in the enchantment.
Gavin looked behind him. Wrenlow sat atop the wall, the knife he clutched in hand catching a little of the moonlight. “You aren’t a lot of help.”
“Sorry,” Wrenlow muttered.
“Don’t mind him. He’s just irritated he’s not quite as skilled as he’d like us to believe. I guess that means we’re equal.”
Gavin grunted. There were times when he wished that he could reach through the enchantment and throttle Gaspar.
“I’ll keep watching,” Wrenlow said.
“Let me know if you see anything coming along the street.”
“As I said, I’m watching.”
It was just the three of them.
Gavin glanced at the bracelet. It fit his wrist almost as if it had been made for him—another effect of the enchantment, he suspected. Gaspar wore a similar one, and together they were enhanced with speed.
Would this give us enough of an advantage over the Mistress of Vines?
There was only one way to find out.
The wall loomed in front of him. Gavin climbed carefully. The enchantment was strange. It was odd for him to feel the increased effects of speed, and it took some time for him to be able to compensate for that. Olivia had told him this enchantment would last longer if he only drew a little from it. The opposite was also true; he could draw more power, but the enchantment would drain more quickly.
He’d faced Davel and saw how having an enchantment that would allow him to move more quickly would be beneficial. He didn’t necessarily want to rely upon enchantments, but having trained without them, Gavin thought something like this might help, if only for tonight.
He moved in the darkness, heading toward the fortress. As quiet as he could, he tried to creep along the ground, and he kept his head down as he moved. In the distance, the fortress continued to loom closer and closer.
“Where are you?” he whispered to Gaspar.
“Not far.”
“You need to get moving.”
“We aren’t going to take any additional action until she reveals her presence,” Gaspar said.
“What if she’s already inside?” Gavin asked.
“There has been no sign of that.”
They’d been watching for the better part of the night, long enough that if the Mistress of Vines had moved on the fortress, they would have seen it. She hadn’t recovered Alex long enough to have acted any sooner. It was likely that she now had the jade egg and was already moving.
Unless she wanted to take time to plan, but that didn’t strike him as the kind of thing she would do. Something about the night felt off to him.
He moved closer to the building. There still wasn’t a sign of any activity in the yard. Gavin held onto the sword, keeping it pointed downward, and was about to say something to Gaspar when the blade surged with white light.
“Something changed,” Gavin whispered.
“What is it?”
“The sword. It’s starting to glow.”
“She’s moving,” Gaspar said.
“Either that, or she’s already here.”
He didn’t know if she had some way of appearing without them seeing her. Given how little they were able to surveil all of this, Gavin suspected she might’ve been able to show up without him even being aware of it. Had they a larger crew, it might not have been so much of an issue, but given how few of them there were, there was a limit to just what they were able to watch.
He focused on the intense glow from the blade.
Gavin turned slowly and felt a strange resistance against the sword that was coming from behind him. “Be careful,” he whispered. “There’s something back there.”
He started to creep backward toward the wall. There were shadows behind them, and he used the sword to light his way.
“To your right,” Gaspar hissed quickly.
Gavin spun, holding out the sword. There was movement, and the sword burst with more light, glowing brightly. Whatever was out there pulled on considerable magic.
He darted forward, sweeping the sword in front of him. “I don’t see anything.”
“Straight ahead,” Wrenlow whispered.
“You can see it?”
“Not well, but there’s something moving across the yard.”
Gavin had to trust in these other two. He stalked forward with slow, careful steps. As he went, he braced himself for the possibility that there would be some sort of magical attack. He lingered for a moment, sweeping his gaze around in the darkness, but he saw nothing.
“Are you sure—”
Power struck him.
Had he not been holding onto the sword, the power might have blasted over him. As it was, the blade seemed to absorb most of the power, keeping it from harming him. Gavin embraced that power and carved through it.
The sword swept over that attack, and Gavin darted forward again. He still didn’t see anything out there, but he could feel energy and movement in front of him. He didn’t need to see it now. Gavin could feel what was taking place.
In the distance, he could make out the dark shadows of three figures.
Not the Mistress of Vines—but enchanters.
She’d brought them into the fight as well.
Of course she had.
She’d probably convinced them they needed to be a part of this. Considering the Captain had been abducting enchanters and forcing them to serve, they had every reason for revenge.
He still didn’t know why the Mistress of Vines was willing to be a part of this.
Something about all of this felt vaguely familiar, though. Gavin didn’t know why.
A power play. He was certain of it.
A sorcerer. Enchanters. The Captain. And the constables.
All of it was connected.
The enchanters attacked him using a strange sort of enchantment. He thought about what he’d seen within Zella’s home. The sculptures there had suddenly been able to stretch, turning into something more dangerous.
What if they were using sculptures like that?
If they did something similar now, he’d have to be careful. There might be a limit to what he could handle.
Gavin sprinted forward. The bracelet enchantment gave him speed that took the others off guard. He caught the first of the enchanters and swung the sword around. In the glowing light, he recognized one of them from Zella’s home.
Gavin carved toward them and twisted the blade, slamming into the man with the hilt. He spun and kicked toward the other, driving his heel into their stomach, and then he flipped into the air and knocked down the last attacker.
All three of them were down.
“There were three enchanters.”
&nbs
p; “Three?” Gaspar asked.
“Yes. Three.”
“What did you do?” Gaspar said.
“I didn’t kill them, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
He turned around and headed back toward the building. The sword continued to glow brightly, which worried him. He had no idea what the source of the glow was, but whatever power was out there was enough that it was calling to him.
Gavin spun around, and he searched into the darkness. A shadowed form stalked toward him. It certainly wasn’t one of the enchanters. The shape of it reminded him of the strange wolf that had gradually grown when he’d been in Zella’s home.
This one was larger. It had taken on its full form.
“Wish me luck,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Gaspar asked.
“They have a strange enchantment out here. Do you remember that creature she called upon in her home?”
“I remember,” Gaspar said.
“Well, there’s at least one. I don’t know if there are any others, but I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if there were. I’d caution you to be careful.”
Gavin darted toward the creature. The shadowed form of it started toward him, and he jumped. The speed enchantment seemed to augment that as well. The jump carried him high into the air, and he twisted and turned as he came down. He didn’t have control over it the way he needed to.
He landed too far behind the creature, which reacted, but thankfully not as quickly as Gavin was able to. He surged forward, sweeping out with the sword. He didn’t have to pause the way he did with the enchanters. Knowing that a creature like this wasn’t real, he swept his blade and carved through it.
The blade met heavy resistance. Magical resistance.
Gavin danced back, the enchantment the only thing that saved him. The creature swiped at him with one of its claws. Had he not been enhanced, he might’ve been caught by it.
He jumped again, this time controlling it better than he had the last time. When he landed, he slammed the sword down, driving it into the creature’s back.
A howl split the night. For a moment, Gavin thought that the creature had been alive and that he’d killed it, but he realized that the howl came from somewhere near the wall. He raced toward it.
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 53