There was still one other door he hadn’t managed to unlock. Maybe it would connect here, but he didn’t have any way of triggering it to open.
Not now, though. He needed to head back. Stay ahead of the Fate.
Gavin opened the door and stepped back out into the hallway, sealing the door closed again. When he neared the ladder, he thought he saw shadows moving near him.
He unsheathed the sword. The blade had a faint glowing sheen to it.
Not the Fate. It would glow more brightly were it him.
There were times when he had seen the blade glow when there had been no magic. Gavin had come to believe that this was possibly related to him. He held it out, peering along the hallway.
He had been attacked there once before. He started to climb the ladder, and then he paused again when he was partway up, looking along the length of the hallway. There was nothing other than the shadows, but they didn’t seem to be anything unnatural.
He reached the surface, closed the trapdoor, and rolled the carpet back over. Then he stood there, waiting.
Gavin had no idea if something had been down there with him, though he didn’t think there was. He would’ve seen something more.
Would it even matter? As far as he could tell, he’d searched through it enough that he didn’t think there was anything of value in there.
Gavin headed to the front door and pulled it open. Had I closed it all the way? He thought that he had, but it didn’t seem as if it had latched. If the Fate decided to attack, he wasn’t about to be surprised again.
Time to show him something more.
Gavin reached into his pocket, and he grabbed the bracelet that Olivia had enchanted for him. He slipped it on and paused a moment as the enchantment took hold. He had to adjust to the sudden shift through him. There was a surge of strength that coursed through him. It was a reason he didn’t like using enchantments that often. He could see how they could become a crutch, almost intoxicating in their strength. It was better to be prepared to exist without such enchantments.
Gavin stepped outside of the house. He pulled the door closed, making sure to seal it tightly behind him. As he backed along the street, he kept his gaze on the building until he reached the forest. He stayed at the edge of the forest for a few moments, watching Cyran’s house. There was nothing, but he couldn’t shake the feeling he had.
Something moved along the street. He shifted his attention but then saw another surge of movement. This one came from closer to Cyran’s house.
Shadows—or smoke, he realized—snaked out of the door.
There had been something inside.
Gavin remained where he was, lingering at the tree line. He stayed concealed as long as he could, watching the street for signs of movement. The shadows were like smoke, making it difficult for him to trail them, but he could see them drift along the street and then disappear.
He stayed where he was for a little while longer. He didn’t see anything more, but what if that one movement, that wisp of smoke, wasn’t all that was there? His patience was rewarded when another wisp of smoke drifted out of Cyran’s home.
Strange.
This one floated away, heading in the opposite direction as the first.
He continued to watch, but nothing else changed.
“Gavin?” Wrenlow’s voice came in loud through the enchantment.
“What is it?”
“They caught me.”
“How far did you get?”
Knowing that Wrenlow would be taking a roundabout path to the market, it wouldn’t have taken long before they realized that something was amiss.
“Well, they waited a lot longer than I thought. Got to the central market and did some shopping,” Wrenlow said.
“What sort of shopping?”
“A few books. Some pastries. A belt.”
“A belt?”
“I needed a new one. Mine was starting to fray.”
Gavin chuckled softly. “What did they do?”
“As soon as they realized I wasn’t you, they disappeared,” Wrenlow said.
“Did you see where they went?”
“No, but there had to be a dozen constables following me.”
“They really want the egg,” Gavin said.
“You won’t be able to keep it in the city indefinitely.”
“I know.”
Gavin didn’t feel as if he could take it from Yoran either. And if the Fate was after it, he had to keep it from him, too. The egg belonged to the city. It belonged to the people here, to the enchanters who had sacrificed so much to create it.
“When are you returning?” Wrenlow asked.
Gavin stared at Cyran’s door for a little while longer. So far, there had been no more smoke drifting out of it. Whatever had been there must have disappeared.
Had they found what they were looking for?
“I need to check on one thing, and then I’ll return,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Something that I saw.”
“Be careful,” Wrenlow said.
“Aren’t I always?”
“Be as careful as I would be.”
“I don’t think anyone can be as careful as you,” Gavin said. He stepped out onto the street, moving away from the forest.
A hint of smoke rose in the distance. It was at the far end of the street, and it was coming toward him.
Gavin turned and looked behind him. There was smoke moving toward him from that direction as well.
“Wrenlow?”
No answer. Either Wrenlow didn’t hear him, or something had happened to the enchantment.
Gavin tapped on it again, focusing on the enchantment. “Wrenlow, if you’re there, I’m going to need you to alert the constables. At least, alert Davel. He needs to come—”
He didn’t get the opportunity to finish.
The smoke started drifting toward him.
Chapter Fourteen
If Gavin needed any proof that the strange smoke was something magical, that was it. The smoke swirled along the street, moving quickly, as if it were something alive. He’d never seen anything quite like it before. There was a soft energy within the smoke, though he didn’t know if what he saw was real or not. Did he imagine it?
The smoke slithered along the street, heading directly toward a young couple making their way along the edge of the forest.
When it struck them, they both collapsed.
Gavin leaned forward, prepared to try to help, when he saw them twitching.
It was the same thing that had happened to the constables.
He started forward, as his mind managed to catch up with what was happening.
The smoke drifted toward him.
It wasn’t just his imagination. It seemed as if the smoke were actually chasing him.
He debated which way he could go. If he headed along the street, he’d be caught between the two strange streams of smoke. That left only one other option: going into Jaren Forest.
Which might be exactly what the Fate wanted.
Balls.
He slowly backed into the trees. The outskirts were not nearly as mystical as the depths. There were areas of the forest that were incredibly strange, almost as if the forest itself tried to pull someone in. When he’d dealt with the sorcerer chasing Cyran, he hadn’t known whether that feeling came from the sorcerer or from the forest. Maybe both.
He sheathed the El’aras dagger and pulled out the sword. He paused a moment, looking around him. No sign of the strange smoke.
“Wrenlow?”
There was silence from the other side of the enchantment. Wrenlow had been there only a moment before, and that he’d suddenly gone silent suggested something worrisome.
“Wrenlow?”
As before, there were no sounds from the other side of the enchantment.
Gavin gripped the sword, glancing down. The blade glowed softly, though he wasn’t sure if it had been glowing the entire time he’d had it unsheathed o
r if it had only just started.
He would loop around. If nothing else, he could use the forest to conceal himself.
Gavin jogged through the trees, keeping low. There wasn’t a path. Anything he did now would be creating his own path, and as he wound through the trunks, Gavin searched for anyplace he might be able to hide.
Every so often, he felt a presence near him. He wasn’t sure if that presence was the smoke or some other magical entity. The first time he felt it, he thought he was detecting something in the forest, but there wasn’t anything else when he paused. The second time he felt it, Gavin realized that what he detected was real. By the time he felt it again, he no longer knew what to make of it. He moved more carefully, sweeping the sword around in an arc as he moved through the forest.
There wasn’t anything. Only his racing heart.
The smoke had followed him into Cyran’s home. It hadn’t attacked him, though it had followed him. That seemed significant, only Gavin wasn’t entirely sure why.
He reached into his pocket and gripped the jade egg.
Thankfully, he had the enchantment on his wrist, which gave him the ability to move much more rapidly than he normally would. Because of that, he’d probably stayed ahead of the smoke. He’d been running and using the enchantment, but he hadn’t paid as much attention to having it on.
Movement in the distance caught his eye. It seemed to be streaking through the trees to his left. Gavin veered right.
Every so often, he felt movement on one side or the other. He couldn’t help but feel as if the slipping movement were trying to corral him, guiding him.
At one point, he paused. He was in the center of the forest near a stream, and from here he thought he could fight in the open. But what if this was where this strange magical smoke wanted him to go?
If so, then Gavin had to switch things up. He had to try to turn it to his advantage. He swung the sword around, and he started moving along the stream in a different way.
“Wrenlow?” He whispered his name again, this time with more urgency, not that the urgency in the enchantment made a difference. Gavin gritted his teeth.
He looked for signs of movement, signs of the smoke, but he didn’t see anything as he ran. He paused near another stream. It seemed as if he had just been here. He had to head back out of the forest.
Gavin spun and immediately began sprinting. By the time he reached the first stream, there was a strange stirring sensation as though he was getting closer to whatever it was that tried to corral him.
He jumped the stream, and he kept moving. The farther he went, the faster he felt himself going. He kept his head low, holding his arms up to prevent the branches from smacking him. He trusted that his instincts were right and that he knew where he was going. He trusted that he could use that knowledge and find his way back to where he had been before.
Gavin couldn’t see the smoke. With as fast as he ran, the enchantment pulling him along, he could no longer make out anything other than the trees and the branches whipping past him. The farther he went, the more he felt a pressure that seemed to squeeze him.
The Fate. It had to be, and that fit with the strange smoke that had left the couple unconscious the way it had the constables.
The way it would leave him it if struck.
There had been darkness around the Fate when he’d attacked.
This had to be some part of his magic.
The enchantment gave him strength and speed, and Gavin pulled upon his core reserves. He hadn’t attempted to use both the enchantment and that core energy together before, but now that he did, he could feel that power coursing through him. He felt a surge of power that was different. The core reserves seemed to work with the enchantment in a way he hadn’t expected.
Gavin streaked through the forest. There was movement around him, but now he seemed to be outrunning it. Even with as fast as he went, he still felt that movement near him. The edge of the city became visible through the trees. The pressure continued to build.
Energy flowed into him, and then he burst out of the trees. He didn’t stop. He let the power of the enchantment and the power of his core reserves carry him. The combination was such that he could race through the street. Then he was among a crowd.
It slowed him a little, but powered as he was, he sprinted faster and faster. Something was moving alongside him. Was it the same smoke? It was a strange energy that pushed up against him, as if trying to squeeze in on him.
It was the middle of the day, early enough where there were quite a few people out. Gavin had to twist and turn through the streets, swinging his body from side to side, avoiding the crowd—carts rolling through the cobbled streets, merchants at wagons near markets.
He jumped. Using the core reserves, along with the enchantment, the jump carried him up to one of the rooftops. Gavin scrambled along it, then slid down, landing on another street.
The farther he went, the more he began to question whether running like this was the right strategy. If he kept running, and if he stayed ahead of this smoke, would he only be drawing it back to wherever he ended up going?
He couldn’t go back to the Dragon. If he did, he would put his friends in danger.
As he ran, his gaze darted around the city. There was the fortress, the place the Captain had lived. There were other enchantments there, though Gavin didn’t know how to use them, but the building would be fortified. Gavin could find Zella and the other enchanters but didn’t really want to put them in danger.
There was another place he could go, but he hated doing it.
Gavin jumped to another rooftop. Again he scrambled along it, slid down, and landed on another street. He ran through the city like that, up and down rooftops, sweeping through the city in a way that carried him. He ignored everything else around him. He focused on trying to get past the people, moving where he could, and getting as far ahead as possible. The farther he went, the more Gavin knew he was heading in the right direction.
And then he saw it.
The building that held the constables’ barracks was not too flashy. The squat building made of stone filled an entire block near the center of the city. It was a single level and not nearly large enough for as many constables as Gavin had seen in the time that he’d been in Yoran. The windows blazed with bright light, and the people in the street tended to avoid getting too close. Strangely, he detected some soft energy in the air as he got closer to the barracks. The entire structure was compact, almost as if it were trying to remain concealed.
The constables—
Gavin stumbled. He staggered to his feet.
The strange wisps of smoke swirled around him, getting close. Gavin realized he was still holding on to his sword, and he swung. The smoke parted around the blade.
The blade glowed brightly—magic was near.
The Fate?
He didn’t see any sign of him, though.
Maybe this was his way of attacking from a distance.
Gavin raced toward the constables’ barracks. He had no idea if Davel or any of the constables would help him, but he could negotiate with the jade egg.
He jumped, which cleared him over the smoke and carried him toward the entrance to the barracks. Gavin pushed open the door without hesitating and stumbled inside. He slammed the door behind him.
He tried to catch his breath, then turned and looked around him. Five constables were there, all of them with weapons unsheathed. Some were slim. One was taller than Gavin and incredibly muscular. Another man was even flabby, a rarity with the constables. He suspected that all of them had enchantments on them. They were dressed in gray jackets and pants.
Gavin glanced down, realizing that he was still holding on to the glowing sword.
“Get Davel,” he said.
The constables stared at him for a moment.
“Get Davel. There’s a sorcerer out in the streets.”
That had the desired effect. The constables started moving. Two of them came to the door
and took up positions on either side of it. Gavin backed into the barracks. The entrance was plain. Paneled wood ran along the walls, on which weapons were hung. A desk near the back corner drew his eye.
“What happened?”
Gavin swung, and Davel caught Gavin’s blade with his own. He lowered the sword. “There’s something out there.”
“Apparently. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come here.”
“I don’t know what it is, only that it looks like smoke chasing me.”
Davel started to grin.
Gavin shook his head, flicking his gaze toward the door. “I wish I were making it up, but I’m not.”
“Smoke that’s chasing you?”
“That’s the only way I can describe it. I saw it with one of your people—”
“What do you mean you saw it?”
Gavin should have shared that sooner, but between Davel asking for the egg and Wrenlow’s need, he’d been distracted. “I saw your constables attacked by something similar.” He shook his head, holding Davel’s gaze. “At the time, I didn’t know what it was. We haven’t been on trusting terms, such as it is.”
“You still should have come to me if you knew what it was.”
“That’s just it. I didn’t know what it was. And when I saw what it did, I realized that it had to be the same thing.” And probably the Fates, though why would they use smoke like that in such an indiscriminate fashion?
That didn’t seem the way that he had expected the Fates to attack.
Gavin realized that he had to be careful about sharing too much with Davel. If he revealed that he had gone to Cyran’s home and that the sorcerer’s lair was there, then he would reveal where he had been going.
“Where did you see this?”
“Near the edge of the city,” he finished. “I don’t know what to make of it, and I don’t know whether it’s anything to be concerned about, but the way it makes the sword glow suggests it’s magically powerful.”
Davel glanced over at the sword. “Come on.” He turned and headed deeper into the barracks.
“Aren’t you concerned that this smoke will get into the barracks?”
“You said it was magically created?”
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 70