The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3

by Holmberg, D. K.

  The enchantment carried him quickly, and he saw another shadowed figure that had a series of small figurines scattered around them.

  Gavin leaned forward, holding onto the sword and bringing its light up.

  “Kegan?”

  Kegan reached for one of the figurines and tapped on it, and it started to elongate. Gavin drove forward with the sword and swept it down, crashing it into the figurine. It shattered. Before Kegan had the opportunity to do anything else, Gavin did the same with the others. He swept the blade through them, and all of the figurines shattered in front of him. With each one that broke, Kegan cried out. By the time Gavin was done, the boy was whimpering.

  “I’m sorry,” Gavin said, turning away. He raced back toward the building. “It’s a distraction,” he said into the enchantment.

  “I gathered that,” Gaspar said. His voice was terse and sounded strained.

  “Where are you?”

  “Look for the five enchanters.”

  “Five?” Gavin had a hard time keeping the incredulity from his voice.

  “Do you think this is the first time I’ve gone against magic before?” Gaspar asked.

  Gavin raced toward the magic. He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the resistance. As he brought the sword around in a sharp arc, the resistance guided him, and he raced into the darkness until he came across the five figures standing in front of Gaspar.

  He fought well, but Gavin recognized why Gaspar was struggling. He was trying not to harm them, the same way Gavin had not wanted to harm them.

  Gavin jumped into the air and landed behind the others. He sheathed his sword quickly and used his fighting techniques. It was far easier to do that than to risk accidentally killing someone. The only problem was that he wouldn’t be able to carve through any magic.

  In the case of fighting hand to hand, he had to navigate around the possibility of a magical attack. The only thing that he had going for him was the enchantment. The speed was far more beneficial than he ever would’ve expected. He’d always been quick when fighting, but this was something else. This was otherworldly and reminded him of the speed Davel had attacked him with.

  Gavin darted forward and drove one foot down, catching one of the enchanters in the knee and forcing them to stumble forward. He twisted and swung his other foot around, catching another enchanter in the chest. Gavin worked through the line of enchanters, fists and feet swinging and spinning, and before he had a chance to even comprehend whether or not they were throwing magic at him, they were all down.

  Gaspar worked quickly, binding each of them with a length of rope that he pulled out from his satchel.

  “Is that going to hold them?” Gavin asked.

  “I had Olivia enchant the rope.”

  “What will it do?”

  “If it works, then it’ll keep them from being able to break through it with magic.”

  Gavin looked at the five enchanted individuals lying on the ground, and then he guided Gaspar over to where he’d attacked the other three. Gaspar made short work of tying them up, and they headed to the back wall where he had knocked Kegan out. When Gaspar was done tying him, they looked up toward the fortress.

  “There can’t be that many enchanters remaining,” Gaspar said.

  “There were several dozen in Zella’s home. That might have only been a part of it,” Gavin said.

  Gavin unsheathed the sword, and they stalked toward the building. When they neared the door, he hesitated. They didn’t know what they were going to find on the other side of the door. Possibly even more powerful enchanters.

  He looked over at Gaspar, who nodded at him.

  “Keep an eye out,” he whispered to Wrenlow.

  “I don’t see anything. You know, I could help—”

  “Just keep watch. We can talk about training you more later.”

  He wasn’t sure that was what he wanted, but it was what Wrenlow wanted. With enchantments, it might even make sense to work with Wrenlow a bit more.

  “Do you mean it?”

  “Will the two of you stop?” Gaspar snapped. “We’ve got more important issues at hand here. Unless you’d rather wait and do this later.”

  “We’ll do it now,” Gavin said, then pulled the door open. Something lunged at him.

  He dropped to the side. Darkness blurred past him, and he swung upward with the sword, preparing for whatever was coming toward him. He had no idea what it was. Gaspar cried out, and Gavin rolled to his feet. He brought the sword around and carved through another enchantment. The sword shattered it, much like it had before.

  The creature fell apart. Gavin kicked it, sending the fragments scattering off to the side.

  “What was that?” Gaspar snapped.

  “That’s what I’ve dealt with a few times before. Kegan had been responsible for those, but…”

  He knew who was responsible for these.

  Mekal. Kegan’s older brother would have been the one tied to the power here.

  Gavin returned to the door and pulled it open. He dropped low and shouldered his way through, and he kicked at the nearest creature. The one that lunged toward him was enormous and nothing like the others. He managed to catch it on the underside of its belly as it jumped, but the creature was quick, and its claws raked across his arm.

  Gavin cried out, pain surging in him. It forced him to call upon the core reserves of energy within him.

  He hadn’t even tried that yet. Perhaps that was a mistake. The core reserves gave him an additional advantage, and there was some sort of magic within what he could do. He could feel that power coursing through him, and he knew that he needed to use everything in his ability to be able to fight what was coming.

  The massive wolf, if that was what it was, turned back toward him. He held onto the core energy within him and jumped again. His power, combined with the enchantment, carried him up and over. He flipped and landed on the creature’s back.

  Gavin stabbed the creature with the sword. The force of it jerked up his injured arm, and he cried out again, but he held on as tightly as he could. He wrapped his arms and legs around it and shoved the sword through it again. The creature shuddered. He continued to push power out through the sword until it exploded.

  That was new. And definitely magic.

  Gavin dropped to the ground and rolled off to the side. He glanced back at Gaspar, who stood near the door.

  “Watch—”

  Gavin didn’t have the opportunity to finish.

  Another creature dropped toward them from above. He glanced up to see where it had come from, but he didn’t find any sign of what was out there. He could only react.

  By holding onto his core reserves, Gavin drove upward and again landed on top of the creature. He borrowed from that power, and he jammed the sword into the creature’s side, blasting through it. He held on, jerking the sword around until the creature exploded.

  Gavin turned toward Gaspar. “I don’t know how many more of these I’m going to be able to take down.”

  “Then we need to find the one who’s controlling them,” Gaspar said.

  Something lumbered toward them, the sound of its footsteps loud on the marble though he couldn’t see it. The thudding sense that came from it was enormous and powerful, and Gavin shuddered at the sound. He swung the sword around, using the light coming off the blade—a considerable light, he realized—but didn’t see anything.

  That troubled him.

  Holding onto the core reserves was depleting his strength quickly. There would come a time when he would run out of strength. For now, he had enough.

  Gavin glanced over at Gaspar. “Stay behind me.”

  “I have every intention of staying behind you,” Gaspar said. “If anyone’s going to take the first attack, I figured it might as well be the one who’s trained for it.”

  Gavin moved forward. They didn’t move at full speed, reserving the power of the enchantment for now, but even as they stalked ahead, he could feel the tremblin
g beneath him.

  Darkness. Something about it was strange. It felt off, and it took Gavin a moment to realize what it was. What he saw was the entirety of the hall in front of them filled by the darkness.

  He grabbed Gaspar, ignoring his protestations, and jumped. The high ceiling allowed him to jump higher than usual. He powered the jump with everything in him, all of the core energy that he had, and it carried them up. The lumbering shadows appeared in front of them.

  Gavin landed on top of some sort of statue, but it was enormous. He tried to drive down on the statue with his sword, but the statue resisted him with its incredible power. As he tried to stab the blade again and again, there wasn’t enough within him to overpower what was here.

  He grabbed Gaspar again, and then they jumped.

  “Hurry,” Gavin said.

  “You’re not going to deal with that?”

  “Be my guest.”

  They raced forward. Gavin swept the sword side to side, watching as the blade surged briefly with light and feeling for resistance. There. It was down a side hall. He pointed the blade in that direction, and the glow increased slightly. He ran toward that.

  There was a shadow in the darkness. Rather than one of the strange creatures, he saw a person. As he darted forward, the light coming off the blade began to illuminate the figure. It was Mekal.

  He looked up and threw something at Gavin. It started to enlarge as soon as it was in the air, and Gavin swung with his blade, sweeping the power through it. The figurine shattered.

  He reached Mekal, and he brought the sword to his throat. “Call it off,” he said.

  “I can’t,” Mekal said.

  “You can. Call it off. If you don’t, this sword is going through your throat. I’d rather not do that if I don’t have to, but if it comes down to you or me, the decision is easy.”

  “I felt what you did to Kegan.”

  “Your brother is alive outside.”

  “He’ll live?”

  “I wasn’t going to kill him. Have you not been paying any attention when you’ve been around me?”

  “You said you were an assassin.”

  “And I am.”

  Gavin turned and looked down the hallway, feeling the rumbling. If Mekal continued to hold onto his enchantment, this creature was going to storm toward them, and Gavin didn’t think that he would be strong enough to resist it.

  “There’s only one person here I intend to kill tonight,” Gavin said.

  “Who?”

  “Don’t make it you.”

  The shadow filled the hall in front of them.

  “You’d better hurry,” Gaspar said.

  “I’m not in charge of any of this,” Gavin said.

  “Then he’d better hurry.”

  Gavin cocked a brow at Mekal. “Well?”

  “If I do this, what guarantee do I have that you aren’t going to kill me?”

  “None.”

  The creature continued to come toward them. It was faster than Gavin would’ve expected, and with the lumbering steps, everything shook underneath. He brought the sword up. He sliced slightly, bringing it only a hair’s breadth through Mekal’s throat.

  “Now,” Gavin said.

  The creature stopped.

  “Bring it back to the way it was.”

  “What do you mean?” Mekal asked.

  “Make it small again.”

  “I can’t,” Mekal said.

  “You can. You just won’t.”

  “Please…”

  “I’m not going to argue this with you. Either you shrink this damn thing, or I’m going to shrink you, and then I’m going to have to fight through it. Seeing as how I had little trouble with the other ones, I doubt I’m going have any trouble with this one.” He was bluffing, but Mekal seemed to believe him. His eyes grew wide.

  Mekal flicked his gaze toward Gavin. Power surged along the blade. It glowed brightly, and then the massive creature shrank down to little more than the size of Gavin’s foot.

  “Grab it,” he said to Gaspar.

  “What?”

  “Grab it.”

  “What about him?”

  “We might need him.”

  Gavin reached for the rope in Gaspar’s pouch, and he quickly bound Mekal. He tied up his hands but left his legs unbound, then forced Mekal to march in front of him. “I will know if you’re drawing upon power,” Gavin said.

  As they reached the stairs in the main part of the hall, Gavin shoved him again. “Where is she?”

  “You don’t understand what we’ve gone through. All of this is finally an opportunity for us to get to safety.”

  Gavin shook his head. “Not like this.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand well enough. I understand that if you go through with this, the city is going to be plunged back into a war. You’re too young to know what a magical war can do to a city.”

  “You aren’t from Yoran,” Mekal said.

  “I don’t need to be from Yoran to know just what will happen if a magical war breaks out here. I’ve seen it often enough to know what happens in cities when magic fights magic.”

  They headed up the stairs, and Gavin held onto the sword, using it to guide him. He could feel the pressure and the power that was out there, though he couldn’t see anything.

  He glanced over at Gaspar. “Be ready.”

  “For what?”

  “I don’t know. For anything.”

  When they reached the top of the stairs, the landing was coated in strange swirling shadows. Gavin held the blade down and saw that the shadows were green lines that covered everything.

  The Mistress of Vines was here.

  Gavin hesitated a moment, looking along the length of the hallway.

  Was the Captain down there as well?

  “What are you waiting for?” Gaspar asked.

  “Because the moment we do this, she’s going to be aware we’re here. I have to be ready to draw her attention.”

  “Do you really fear her?”

  “Don’t you?” Gavin asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Me too.”

  He took a deep breath, and then he carved into the vines.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The thick vines withdrew as soon as he cut through them with the sword. Something changed around him, as if the air constricted and some energy within it started to shift and shimmer.

  Gavin looked down the hall. “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know,” Mekal said. “My job was to ensure nobody else got in. She was concerned you might come after her.”

  “She knew I might come?”

  “Yes,” Mekal said.

  “Interesting,” Gavin said and glanced over to Gaspar. “You might need to stay back here.”

  “I’m not staying behind.”

  “This is magic. You don’t have any way of fighting magic.”

  “I can do well enough,” Gaspar said.

  “If you say so,” Gavin said.

  He started forward, pushing Mekal in front of him. The boy resisted a little, but he was forced to keep going as Gavin shoved him with the sword. He didn’t want to stab Mekal, but he also didn’t want Mekal to resist him as he headed along the hall. The sword continued to glow, the blade getting brighter and brighter as he made his way through here.

  At the end of the hall was another staircase. It was wider than the other, a grand staircase that led to another level of the fortress. The glow—and the resistance—came from that direction.

  “Please,” Mekal said. “Don’t make me go up there.”

  Gavin shoved him. “You don’t get much of a choice in this. You’ve been complicit in all of this.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I understand well enough.”

  They started up the stairs, and Gaspar stayed behind him. Gavin glanced over his shoulder, checking to see what Gaspar might be doing. Gaspar should have known more about what was happenin
g now. Still, he had left the constables. There was some aspect of what Gaspar had done and his willingness to leave the constables that left Gavin troubled.

  At the top of the stairs, Gavin hesitated. A deep green energy swirled around in front of him. He carved through it again and forced Mekal to take a step. The vines swirling along the ground withdrew, but not all the way like they had at the top of the previous landing.

  “Let me see the figurine,” he said to Gaspar.

  “Why?”

  “Just let me see it.”

  Gaspar handed it over, and Gavin set it down.

  “Activate it, and send it that way,” he said to Mekal, motioning into the darkness.

  “What are you going to do with it?”

  “Seeing as how I’m not the one who controlled it, I’m not going to do anything with it. I’m asking you to use it. Send the figurine that way,” Gavin snapped.

  There came another surge of energy along the sword. Gradually, the figurine began to grow until it filled the room. Gavin remained ready to jab Mekal with the sword if he tried to turn the humanoid figurine toward them, but he didn’t. He did as he was instructed, and the figurine started to walk—lumber, really—into the room.

  Gavin held the sword forward, using the light to guide him. The vines swirled around the figurine. The creature was massive and continued to grow, occupying almost all of the space. The vines wrapped around and slowed the statue, but not so much that it was effective.

  “Why did you do that?” Gaspar whispered.

  “She needs to use her power to slow it,” Gavin said.

  “You don’t think she can?”

  “This golem is incredibly potent,” Gavin said. “It’s going to take her time to slow it down, and I don’t really know how much time she’ll have to continue to work at this.”

  Gavin followed the sculpture. Mekal stayed with him as they moved forward, and the lumbering sound of the stone dragging across the ground echoed. The creature moved slower with each step. The Mistress of Vines used power on it, but even with everything she was doing, she couldn’t stop it completely.

  “What happens when she gets through with that?” Gaspar whispered.