He reached the end of the street. So far, there was nothing but darkness all around him, and he didn’t see anything else in the night. The attacker had disappeared.
Gavin gripped the dagger, glancing down at the blade. It hadn’t started to glow. For as little magic as presumably existed within Yoran, he’d encountered more than his share of magic users. The blade would expose most of them to him.
But not this person.
“Where are you?” Wrenlow whispered again.
“Near the end of the street. I’ll keep looking, but—”
There came a flurry of movement in front of him.
The attacker.
They had taken out the Captain and everyone in his house easily.
He had to be careful.
Gavin spun back against the building. He tried to keep as quiet as he could, dancing across the ground, but his feet dragged a little more loudly than he intended. Gaspar would be disappointed. For that matter, he was disappointed in himself.
A breeze gusted across his face from the suddenness of the movement coming toward him. Instinct, as well as training that had been honed over countless years, kicked in.
He pinned himself back against the wall, focusing on what he could feel, not so much what he could see. In all the times that he’d trained over the years, Gavin had gained some skill hiding in darkness. Learning how to fight in the dark had been one of Tristan’s most important lessons.
There came a slight puff of wind.
Gavin darted forward with the El’aras dagger and slammed his fist forward. It met nothing but air. He swung back and swept around in a circle, waiting for a sign of anyone else who might be there. He didn’t find anyone.
Again, he twisted.
Again, there came nothing.
Gavin hesitated and ducked a little lower, pushing his head back against the wall. He tried to stare into the darkness, but he couldn’t see or feel anything.
“What’s happening?” Wrenlow’s voice crackled too loudly.
Something slammed into his belly. He tensed and suppressed the pain immediately. He swung his leg out and connected with something. He continued to sweep his leg forward and followed through. Gavin rolled forward in the Sudo technique, then crashed to the ground.
It’s too loud. All of this is too loud.
Gavin hurriedly smacked at the enchantment, silencing it. What had he been thinking, leaving it active? He had enough experience with Wrenlow chattering away in his ear, and he should have known better than to keep the enchantment enabled.
Somebody wiggled beneath him.
Gavin lifted them and slammed them back against the cobblestones. He punched rather than using the knife, not wanting to kill. Incapacitation was fine, but nothing more than that. Not until he knew more about why they’d targeted the Captain.
Gavin quickly rolled off to the side, and he lay there for a moment, waiting.
This person was tall and lanky.
Not the person he’d seen in the Captain’s fortress.
Gavin didn’t notice anyone else near him, but in the darkness…
Not so dark anymore. The dagger glowed softly with yellow light. Magic.
Of course.
He’d suspected a sorcerer had attacked the Captain. This confirmed it.
Gavin borrowed the pale light glowing from the dagger as he looked around him. The light allowed him to see more than he’d been able to otherwise, and it revealed a hint of movement. The shadowed street seemed to press upon him, as if the shadows themselves were ready to attack.
That was all he needed.
He slipped low, shifting his pattern, and dove toward the sign of movement. He rolled onto the other person, who grunted. Gavin needed to be more careful than that.
Gavin jumped to his feet and kicked the downed man. He spun in place, swinging his gaze around. There wasn’t anything nearby. Gavin held out the dagger, which continued to glow. He steadied his breathing.
Whoever was using the magic had to be close.
He slipped along the street carefully. In the distance, he caught sight of a dark figure on the far side of the street near a home with a small red awning.
The dagger surged brighter.
He darted forward, moving as quickly as he could. The dagger revealed his presence, but it didn’t matter at this point.
All that mattered was that he got to—
Something wrapped around him.
Magic.
Gavin was trapped. The figure on the far side of the street stalked toward him. They were cloaked, and though he couldn’t see anything underneath the cloak, he could feel the presence there. The figure continued to wrap bands of power around him, swirling them from head to toe.
Gavin focused on the core reserves of power that existed deep within him. He felt it now as a vast store of energy buried deep within him. Magic energy.
In the time that he’d been in Yoran, he had struggled with trying to come to grips with why he’d have the ability to call upon that kind of magic and what it would do for him. But he had no answers. Unless he had an opportunity to find his old mentor—a man who was supposed to be dead but who Gavin believed still lived—he wouldn’t have answers as to why his training had taught him to access power that he was not supposed to reach.
Tristan had never trained those with magic. He had trained fighters. He had trained healers. He had trained poisoners. In the time that Gavin had lived in the barracks and trained with Tristan and the others, there had been no attempt to use magic—nothing other than what he’d been taught and the way he’d been used to break through chains.
Now it would have to allow him to break through something else.
As he held on to that energy, this person—who Gavin believed was a sorcerer rather than just an enchanter—came closer to him.
“You should stay out of my business,” the sorcerer said.
“What did you take?” Gavin asked.
Don’t let him take it.
The Captain had been concerned enough about whatever had gone missing.
The sorcerer stopped about two paces away from him, as if knowing Gavin might be able to break free. “You should stay out of my business,” he said again.
“You don’t need to repeat yourself.” Gavin breathed out steadily, and he held on to power within him. All it would take would be for him to expand that sense of the core reserves and blast through it.
He had done it before. He had no idea how powerful the sorcerer was, but he had to figure out what was going on. Why would there be another sorcerer in the city? Not only that, but why would they be moving at this time of night? And out here?
“I’ve heard there’s someone like you in the city. Someone quite meddlesome,” the sorcerer said.
He was the right size and build for the one he’d seen at the Captain’s fortress, but had that person had a beard like this sorcerer? He’d been knocked over too fast to tell.
“Meddlesome?” Gavin said. Who was this person? They seemed far too calm for someone who had just broken into—and killed everyone—at the Captain’s fortress. “I’m more than just meddlesome.”
He used everything that he could from the core reserves and exploded outward against the barrier. He expected that it would burst him free.
Only it didn’t.
The barrier around him bulged, but it didn’t shatter.
Shit.
He should have expected it to be more challenging than that.
The sorcerer took a step toward him. Gavin managed to shift his hand just a little bit, enough for him to grab the hilt of the sword he carried.
“Interesting,” the sorcerer said.
His voice was deep and carried with it a bit of a grating quality that left Gavin on edge. Too many sorcerers were like that. The man was tall, and he exuded a sense of energy. He had dark robes that draped around him, and his balding head gleamed in the faint moonlight. He held one hand out from him, which Gavin knew meant that he was preparing to use a
spell, though Gavin was ready to carve through any magic. With the El’aras dagger, along with whatever the sword could do, he didn’t have to worry about the magic of any sorcerer.
“Who are you?” the man asked.
Gavin braced for the inevitable squeeze of power. The bands constricted around him, and he remained ready for the sorcerer to try something different. Thankfully, it seemed as if the sorcerer were mostly concerned about why Gavin could resist the magic.
What he needed was to unsheathe the sword. The sword could cut through magic, and in this case, he’d need to use the blade to escape.
Gavin called upon the core reserves again, summoning them from deep within, and then he exploded outward. The energy around him bulged once more.
He tensed and pulled on the blade, drawing it out of the scabbard. It was free, but the bands of magic constricted him again, preventing him from doing anything with the sword.
The sorcerer took another step toward him, unmindful of what Gavin might be able to do.
Let him feel that way, Gavin thought.
He pushed again, resisting the magic. He was running low on energy, and he didn’t know how much more he might be able to withstand. Using that energy, he could resist the bands of power around him, but there was the danger he could weaken himself to the point where he wouldn’t be able to fight.
Gavin pushed one more time. The bindings bulged, spreading away from him, and he was able to bring the blade up. He carved through the bindings, parting them on either side of the sword.
The sorcerer gasped. He took a step back, but Gavin slammed the hilt of the sword against the sorcerer’s forehead. The bright white light within the blade flickered for a moment before fading.
Gavin dragged the sorcerer back to the edge of the street and looked around. In the darkness, it was difficult for him to see anything else nearby. Maybe he should have left the sorcerer awake long enough for him to use the light of the blade to make sure everything was safe.
He crouched near the sorcerer, who didn’t exude the same strength as he had when standing. Maybe there was an element of an enchantment in the way he had used that power. He searched him briefly but didn’t find anything on his person. The fabric of his robes was incredibly soft, and there was a hidden embroidery worked within it.
Finally, he tapped on his enchantment. “I caught the person who killed the Captain. I think. A sorcerer.”
“Again?” Wrenlow asked.
“This one had a different technique.”
“What sort?”
“I’m not entirely sure. He attempted to use a different kind to hold me.”
“Attempted?”
“Well, it worked for a little while,” Gavin said.
He dragged the sorcerer backward, and Gavin quickly reached into his pouch and pulled out a length of enchanted rope. He tied the rope around the sorcerer’s wrists and ankles, binding them tightly, then moved into an alley.
Gradually, the sorcerer started to come around. The sword glowed softly. Gavin crouched next to him again and held the blade up near the sorcerer.
He smiled at him. “You and I are going to have a conversation.”
The sorcerer looked up at Gavin and glanced toward the blade, and then he started to jerk on the ropes.
“Enchanted,” Gavin said. He lifted the sorcerer, propping him up against the wall. Thankfully, the sword continued to glow. He needed the light to see and to ward off the darkness that he hated. “If you try to wrap me in bands of power again, you’ll see that I don’t have nearly as much patience the second time. Now, you and I are going to talk,” Gavin said again.
The sorcerer snarled at him. “You have made a grave mistake.”
“The only mistake I made was not knowing there would be another stinking sorcerer out here tonight.”
“You would attack one of the Fates?”
“I’m more than happy to attack fate, though I don’t think that’s what you’re getting at.”
“No, you fool. The Fates.”
Gavin slammed the hilt of the sword back into the sorcerer’s forehead again. He dragged him along the alley as he held on to the blade.
Thankfully, it maintained a hint of light that glowed from it, though Gavin no longer knew if any of that light came from him. He thought it was mostly coming from the sorcerer, though there were times when the blade glowed that made him question whether he was the one responsible for it.
“Are you catching any of that?” Gavin asked into the enchantment.
“I don’t know anything about the Fates,” Wrenlow said.
“I guess I’m bringing him back to the Dragon to question him,” Gavin said.
“I’m sure Jessica is going to be thrilled.”
He reached the central part of the street before pausing.
“Why was he out here?” he wondered.
“You want to figure this out now?”
“I need to know what he was after.”
The house with the red awning.
What was he after there?
Gavin dragged the sorcerer along the street. Maybe it would be better if he carried him, but with the way the sorcerer had attacked, what were a few bruises?
The street narrowed as he walked, the buildings on either side of him seeming as if they pressed in upon him. The air carried a dampness to it mixed with a foul stink. A cat cried out somewhere nearby, and Gavin tensed a moment. There was nothing else.
He stayed cautious as he made his way down the street, worried that he might need to use the darkness to conceal himself. Most of these buildings were still houses, but not all of them were. Some were larger, and some were much more impressive than others, and all their windows were dark. It didn’t take long to find the one with the awning again.
Gavin started toward it, still dragging the sorcerer. He felt something. It was like the wind shifting, nothing more than that, but with the darkness and him already being on edge, Gavin dropped low.
Something whistled over his head.
Gavin grunted in frustration and swept the sword around in a tight arc. It met a hint of resistance and then cleaved straight through it. There was a cry and a spray of warmth.
He grabbed the sorcerer, dragging him toward the building. He wasn’t about to pause to think about who he’d killed.
This was not how this night was to have gone.
Just question the Captain. That was it.
Things were never as simple as he intended. This was no exception.
He reached the building, still dragging the sorcerer. A soft shuffling movement came from behind him, and Gavin turned, holding the blade up. Through the hint of glowing, he detected five shadowed figures. They wouldn’t be more than he could manage, but the noise would be considerable. Even though he couldn’t make out all the details, they were of varying heights. Two of them wore dresses, while the other three had on jackets and pants. One of the women had a hat tilted on her head, angled off to the side and shading her face. The shadows that lingered near the figures made them difficult to see.
He glanced down at the sorcerer. He was still out.
The five started toward him. Gavin held out the blade. None of them seemed armed with swords, which almost made it an unfair fight.
“You really don’t want to do this,” he said.
No one answered, and Gavin shook his head before starting toward them.
He slipped the sword back into the sheath. Then he called upon the remaining energy within him and jumped. The power allowed him to launch up and over those closest, landing in the middle of them.
He dropped down, swinging his leg around and tripping one man, and he caught him in the midsection as he fell. Gavin twisted and spun, and he kicked at another. His heel caught the man in the knee, and he brought his fist up, driving it into the man’s face. There was a satisfying crunch as something broke.
Twisting again, he slammed his elbow into another of the attackers that tried to get too close to him. Gavin drove it all
the way through and brought his fist back up, catching the attacker in the forehead.
He jumped, using a hint of the core reserves to gain height. He rotated in the air and spun his legs out from him. As he did, he kicked and connected with the forehead of another one of the attackers. Gavin grinned as he landed, though now only one man was remaining.
“You’re skilled,” the man said.
Gavin smirked. “You have no idea.”
“You made a mistake, though.”
“What was that?”
“You left him alone,” the man replied.
Almost too late, Gavin realized the sorcerer was behind him. Gavin spun and felt something starting to sneak around him. He’d sheathed the sword. He’d also used up considerable reserves.
He called upon a hint of that energy, enough to flow through him, and jumped. It carried him up and swept him away from the magic trying to wrap around him. Gavin unsheathed the sword in that movement and flipped in the air, carving through the band of magic as he landed.
Somehow, the sorcerer had managed to free his hands and legs, which suggested there was somebody else with him.
Where are they?
Magic made the blade glow brightly, and Gavin spun in place, searching for a sign of the attacker. He didn’t see anyone, but they had to be here.
Another burst of power came from behind him. Another sorcerer? It would explain how the sorcerer he’d brought here had gotten out so easily.
Gavin darted toward a nearby alley. If nothing else, he needed to figure out what the sorcerer had taken from the Captain. He reached the alley, and power started to build. The blade was glowing, and Gavin swept out with it, slashing at the energy he detected.
The sorcerers turned toward him, spreading out. They glowed brightly. Gavin hadn’t seen anything quite like that before.
The first sorcerer grinned at him.
Shit.
A burst of energy exploded into him, knocking Gavin into the alley.
“What’s going on?” Wrenlow asked.
“Ambush,” Gavin muttered. “It seems as if the sorcerer I thought I’d contained managed to break free of the enchanted ropes.”
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 61