Could it be the sword?
“Gavin?” Jessica asked.
He glanced over. “I’m thinking.”
“Think more quickly,” Davel said.
Gavin turned toward him, gripping the sword and suppressing the frustration within him. “Don’t tell me what I need to do.”
Davel smiled. “That’s the attitude you’re going to need with them.”
“You don’t know them,” Gavin said.
“I know them well enough. I understand the danger we face when it comes to the Fates.”
Gavin glanced down at the sword. Somehow, it was important.
He thought about the sorcerer’s lair. It wasn’t only that the sword had been found there, it was also how the sword had been used to help him move from one place to another within the lair.
Gavin wasn’t about to give the sword to the Fate.
Which meant he needed help—the constables’ help.
“Why don’t we start with something more basic?” Gavin said.
“Basic how?” Davel asked.
“I think we need to better understand just what the egg can do.”
Davel looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. “No.”
“You don’t want me to know?”
“I don’t have a problem with you knowing, but I have a problem with what you intend to do when you understand it.”
“First you want me to work with you on using the egg to create enchantments, and now you’re telling me no?”
“I’m not going to have you arm yourself with enchantments,” Davel said.
Gavin flashed a bright smile. “Seeing as how I’m the one in command of the egg, I don’t know that you get to choose that.”
The only problem with it was that he would have to get to the egg. That might be a challenge. For all his taunting of Davel and offering him an opportunity to access the egg, Gavin had secured it in a way that would keep it safe and ensure that no one else could reach the egg unless he allowed it. Now he didn’t know whether that was going to be easy enough for him to accommodate.
“I’ll return with the egg, and you bring your enchanter-type people here,” Gavin said.
Davel looked around the tavern. “Here? You would have us place enchantments inside this place?”
“Hey!” Jessica said.
“I agree with her sentiment,” Gavin said. “What makes you think this is any less effective than your constable barracks?”
“There are requirements within each place where the enchantments are placed.”
“What sort of requirements?”
“The kind that ensures a certain stability. I’m not going to walk you through this. It will take far more time, and if you’re going to secure the egg and bring it back here, then we can talk about it at that time.”
“We can talk about it now,” Gavin said. “Because if I’m going to bring the egg to you, I want to know I’m going to be safe. I want to know that anything I might do for you will be safe.”
“It’s not a matter of safety. It’s a matter of having the necessary focus of the magic,” Davel said.
“You don’t think you can have that focus here?”
“There will be too many distractions.”
“What kind of place do you need?” Gavin asked. “Other than your barracks.”
“Short of having access to a sorcerer’s lair, we need a place devoid of any influence.”
Gavin hadn’t known the lair's purpose before, but the idea that it would prevent any magical influence from escaping did make sense to him. He didn’t know if that would be necessary, though. He wasn’t willing to go to the constables’ barracks, which meant that he would have to come up with a different solution.
“I might have a place that we can use,” Gavin said. “When I return, I’ll tell you. But only you.”
“That’s not going to work,” Davel said.
“Why not?” Gavin asked.
“I have to tell someone.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“No,” Davel said.
“Good. I don’t trust you either. I suppose that makes us even when it comes to working together.”
“You’re a strange man, Gavin Lorren,” Davel said.
Gavin flashed a smile. “Get whoever you need ready and bring them here.”
Davel got to his feet, and he made a small motion with his hand. The other constables followed him out of the tavern.
That left Gavin with Wrenlow and Jessica.
He hadn’t learned what happened with Gaspar and Imogen. They’d been gone for a while. The only thing he could think of was that they were off on some job. Likely something to help protect Desarra and Olivia. That seemed to be Gaspar’s greatest concern these days.
“Are you really going to work with the constables?” Jessica asked.
“If it will allow us to make some enchantments, I think I need to.”
“Then I need to make sure the tavern is secured.” She got up and headed to the kitchen, leaving Gavin to have a chance to talk to Wrenlow alone.
“This Fate already took something from the Captain and was after something else. Maybe the sword.” He described to Wrenlow what he’d discovered in the lair, and his friend grew increasingly unsettled, shifting in his seat. “As much as I hate to think this way, I’m going to have to take on the Fate.” Going up against a powerful sorcerer again didn’t sit well with him, but at this point, he didn’t know if there was any alternative. “I’d love to have your help.”
“You know you’ll have it.”
“I might need your focus, too.”
He didn’t want Wrenlow angry with him, but he would need Wrenlow’s connections. Besides, the Fate had proven he knew how to find Gavin—and those he cared about.
Wrenlow watched him. Finally, he leaned forward, rested his hands on the table, and shook his head slowly. “I don’t like it, but I also don’t like the idea of leaving powerful sorcerers like that to terrorize the city.”
“I’m not sure it’s about terrorizing so much as it’s about finding something they want,” Gavin said.
“Maybe that won’t be their intention, but their presence in the city would be,” Wrenlow said. “We know what sorcerers can do. Even if they don’t mean to cause harm, they always seem to manage to do it.”
Gavin crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at the blade. Wrenlow was right, which was part of the reason that Gavin tried to avoid sorcery.
Now he was far more entrenched in it than he ever had been before.
Was it all because of Yoran?
Maybe it was all because of Cyran.
He sighed. “Let’s start with one thing at a time.”
He didn’t want to rely upon enchantments, but Gavin wasn’t sure he would have much of a choice.
“I’m going to get the egg. She’s going to be busy getting the Dragon back in order,” he said, looking over to where Jessica moved the tables back into position, “so I’ll hurry back.”
“You don’t think the Fate will return here?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin glanced toward the door. “I have a feeling the constables will be watching.”
“Which means that you think Davel will follow you when you go for the egg,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin chuckled. At least he could laugh about that much. “I do.”
“You don’t want him to know where you’re keeping it, though.”
“Not really.” There was value in having the sorcerer’s lair to himself.
At least, there had been.
Now he didn’t know if he could consider it safe.
“How do you intend to sneak past him?” Wrenlow asked.
“Oh, I have a few ideas.”
Chapter Thirteen
Gavin kept the hood of his cloak up as he headed through the streets. The city was quiet, as far as Yoran was concerned. There was typically more of a crowd, and this was not nearly as dense of a gathering as was often found moving through the city.
A dozen people were in the distance, but as they looked toward him—or, more likely, toward the constables trailing him—they veered off, disappearing down some of the side streets or alleyways.
As far as he could tell, a pair of constables had been following him for the last few blocks. The streets of Yoran quickly widened the closer to the edge of the city, the buildings getting even more spaced apart, mostly because the buildings were smaller. Gavin hadn’t made any effort to sneak out of the Dragon any differently than he would’ve normally.
He wanted the constables to know he’d left, though he didn’t know if that would leave the tavern unprotected. Having the constables watch over the Dragon would offer a layer of protection that Jessica might need.
Gavin reached an intersection, pausing on the uneven cobbles and stepping off to the side of the street to let three children pulling a wagon toward a nearby market pass him. He hesitated before hurrying forward. The carts on either side of the street pressed toward him, as if they were actively trying to slow him. Most of them looked to be houses, though he noticed a few storefronts, all with darkened windows. In the distance, he noted three constables heading toward him. They must have been using enchantments to communicate.
Clever.
Of course, he had a similar ability.
Gavin turned into an alley, climbed up onto the rooftop, then slid forward. He didn’t see any of the constables around him, though he suspected they would be following even from afar.
He wasn’t entirely comfortable moving from rooftop to rooftop, but it did offer him a freedom he didn’t have down on the street. He could more effectively watch the movement within the street and make out whether the constables were trailing him. There was another cluster of constables he hadn’t seen when he was at street level. They were heading toward his previous location.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Gavin whispered, looking below.
Wrenlow popped out of the doorway where Gavin had just been, pulled the hood of his cloak up, and started to walk down the street. “Are you really sure this is necessary? He knows what you’re doing anyway.”
“We need some protections he doesn’t know about.”
“Even if the Fate knows how to find the lair?”
Gavin thought about arguing that the Fate might not know how to find this lair, but it didn't matter if they were connected. “Just do it.”
“I don’t look anything like you.”
“It’s not a matter of whether you look like me. It’s a matter of whether you can convince them that you are me. At least for a little while.”
Wrenlow started to tilt his head up in Gavin’s direction, but he stopped. “I don’t even have your size.”
“You don’t need my size. You’re wearing one of my cloaks, and that’s all they’re going to see.” Thankfully, he had two that were the same. He could take the one he’d been wearing off and slip into the growing crowd. Some constables could be curious about why he looked different, but he suspected they’d focus on the cloak and trail after that more than anything else. “I’m going to watch for a while.”
“Fine, but I don’t know how well I’m going to uncover anything going this way.”
Gavin smiled to himself as Wrenlow headed into the street. The constables converged on him, keeping some distance, though not so much they wouldn’t be noticeable. Could they really think that Gavin was so ignorant as to overlook them? It wasn’t as if they were traveling at night.
“Take the next left,” he said.
“And then what?”
“And then keep winding that way.”
“What about you?” Wrenlow asked.
“I’m going to be fine.”
“You don’t have anybody watching over you.”
“So long as I have you in my ear, you are with me,” Gavin said.
He waited for a while longer, ensuring the constables were trailing after Wrenlow. Then he scrambled down from the roof and followed the alley until he reached the end of it, twisting back out into the main street.
From there, Gavin started to head deeper into the city. He took a circuitous route to make sure that there wasn’t anyone else following him. It wasn’t just the constables that he worried about. It was also the enchanters. And, worst of all, the Fates. If the Fates happened to find him, then he wanted to be ready.
Gavin didn’t see any followers. As far as he could tell, no one was trailing after him. He followed the street, heading toward the outskirts of the city.
When he reached Byron Street, quickening his pace as he strode along it, there weren’t nearly as many people limiting his movement as there had been before. Cyran’s house sat in the distance.
As Gavin approached, he slowed, glancing around him and looking for signs of movement. He didn’t see anything, but then a surge of shadows near him caught his attention.
There was a danger for him coming here, especially if the Fate knew about the lair, and Gavin had a hard time thinking the Fate wouldn’t know about it. He just had to hope they hadn’t found the egg.
Besides, without the sword, the different lairs didn’t connect.
Unless he knows some magic trick to open the door.
He had to push that thought out of his mind.
Gavin decided to make a loop around Cyran’s house. Following the road past, he didn’t see anything there. He moved as quickly as he could and then circled around the block. The shadows never changed. Perhaps he was just overreacting.
Looking back around, Gavin glanced toward the forest. It was near enough to the edge of Yoran that it seemed as if the city had grown up to the forest and then stopped. It had younger trees, at least in this section, but if he were to follow through the forest, he would reach an older growth—and the El’aras. It amused him that the people of Yoran thought they were so separated from magic when they lived so close to the El’aras.
It wasn’t just the El’aras, though that was what Gavin had believed when he’d first come to Yoran. Now he knew about the sorcerers and enchanters and the constables, even. Far too many people in the city used magic. Even him, to an extent, though he really had no idea how he was using magic or whether what he did truly constituted magic.
As he headed back around, he made his way toward Cyran’s home. The building was darkened, as expected. When he neared, he glanced along the street, looking for signs of anyone paying attention to him, but didn’t see anyone. Gavin slipped his dagger into the lock, glancing at the blade to make sure it wasn’t glowing as he popped it open, and headed inside. He closed the door behind him, locked it, and then peered out the window, watching for movement.
When he was convinced the street was empty, he turned his attention back to the house. The blade still didn’t glow. It hadn’t at the Captain’s house, either. He would be careful. Work quickly. That was all he could do.
As he headed deeper into Cyran’s house, he glanced at the cabinets. Then he moved into the back room, pulled the rug off, and lifted the trapdoor. Once he climbed down the ladder, Gavin hurried past the broken stone that had been pulled down from the ceiling and reached the lair entrance.
He held his hand up against it, and he felt the sense of power within him, the core reserves of energy. Given everything that he’d gone through today, he needed a chance to rest and recuperate to restore those reserves of power, but he didn’t have the chance to do so yet. He called on that power, and then he pulled the door open. Once inside, he closed it behind him again.
Gavin looked around the lair. Nothing seemed amiss. He searched for evidence that someone had come through here, but the triggers he’d placed to detect such a thing were undisturbed. As far as he could tell, no one had been here.
Get the egg and get back. That was all he needed to do.
Stay ahead of the Fate. Prepare for what he might do next.
He wanted something he thought Gavin had.
The sword made the most sense, especially if he were coming to a sorcerer’s lair, but there was another
possibility. The Fate could have been after the egg—only why? It created enchantments. Nothing a sorcerer needed.
Gavin headed toward the back of the room, where there was another cabinet. He had found this cabinet during one of his attempts at exploring and was intrigued that he had to press the El’aras dagger into it to open it. That suggested the cabinet involved magic—that it would contain magic.
He pried the dagger into the cabinet again and opened the door, revealing the jade egg inside. The egg was smooth and had a greenish hue to it, though from time to time, Gavin thought that it glowed. He didn’t take it out of the cabinet that often, as he was unsure whether he should. As far as he knew, the enchanters had poured some part of themselves into the egg to create a weapon that could be used against the sorcerers during the war two decades prior, and doing so had changed things for those who had been involved. It was the reason that Gavin was tempted to return the egg to the enchanters, but he needed to know that he would do so at the right time. For now, he had held onto it, making sure that neither the enchanters nor the constables could use it against the other.
Gavin slipped it into his pocket.
It felt strange to have an item of such importance in his pocket, but he didn’t know what else to do with it. Perhaps he should have acquired a case for it at one point. Would this place have a connection to those hidden tunnels the same as the other sorcerer’s lair had? What if there was something here that he hadn’t seen before?
The door.
He paused in front of the door, and he traced his finger on the symbols. Much like in the other sorcerer’s lair, the El’aras writing seemed to have some sort of meaning, though Gavin couldn’t read it to understand just what it was. He held the dagger up to it and waited to see if there would be some sort of hiss coming from it, but there was nothing.
What about the sword?
It had worked for the other doors. If it worked here, then maybe he could find a connection to those other lairs.
The sword didn’t do anything either.
There didn’t seem to be any hidden doors. Maybe that was why Cyran had chosen this place. Either that, or Cyran had built it himself, and it didn’t connect to the others.
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 69