He needed to find the person releasing them. He needed to stop them. And if not that, then he needed to learn how to destroy the smoke creatures.
Gavin captured one after another, using the core reserves within him. In the distance, he was aware of more pressure squeezing upon him. He walked along the street, and it seemed as if the smoke creatures were forcing him forward. He dabbed his fingers into the pouch of powder Anna had given him and licked them quickly before stuffing the pouch back into his pocket. There came another surge of energy, though not nearly as vibrantly as before.
He followed the way the smoke creatures were pressing him. That seemed significant. He tried calling out to Wrenlow, but there was no answer. That didn’t surprise him.
The more he was around the smoke creatures, the more certain Gavin was that they had a way of neutralizing magic. A massive semarrl stretched toward him. This one was dark gray, and he could almost see limbs within the smoke.
Gavin spun, drawing upon the enchantment for strength and speed, and he darted toward it. He thrust one of the enchantment barriers forward, trapping the smoke creature within it.
How many more will I be able to capture?
Davel had made sure that Gavin had plenty of enchantments, but there was a limit to what he could do. Gavin reached for the packet of powder again, taking another dose despite knowing he could only take so much. The more he consumed, the more likely it was that he would take too much and eventually run out of power. More than that, he might eventually simply succumb to overuse.
Gavin thrust another one of the enchantments forward and trapped a smoke creature again. One after another, he continued to use the energy from the powder, pushing out through his core reserves. The powder Anna had given him seemed to tap into some greater strength, as if he were calling power he couldn’t otherwise. He couldn’t help but feel as if that strength tied him to some other part of himself.
The semarrl continued to guide him forward along the street. He had gone this way before. Most parts of the city were familiar to him after living here as long as he had and wandering the streets as much as he had. There was still something about this that felt different, even more familiar than it would have otherwise.
Finally, the pressure forced him to turn. When it did, Gavin thought he understood what was taking place. It was forcing him along the pathway beneath the ground.
The same path that the sorcerer’s lair would take.
He started to slow. It was almost as if they were sacrificing themselves to drive him forward. There had to be some reason they were directing him in this way.
He had an incredible amount of that power, far more than he had ever had before. Holding on to it now, Gavin could feel that energy flowing up within him, rolling out through him in a way that suggested he could do anything.
He needed it. Power slammed into creature after creature, giving Gavin the belief he could do this. The resistance that pressed around him was a strange energy. It felt like a wall squeezing upon him, though he could see nothing to it. Perhaps a faint shimmer, a bit of color within the translucence, but nothing more than that. He fought against it but felt his strength failing. Resistance pressed around him.
Gavin was in a part of the city emptied of people. The pressure guided him to a clearing. At one point, the market he’d visited after meeting with the old woman about the necklace occupied much of the space, but today it was gone. He traced his way along the ground, feeling the stones, but he couldn’t tell why the smoke creatures would have guided him here.
He turned and shoved his fist out, driving it toward each of the smoke creatures that attacked him. They got close, but they stopped swirling as close as they had, almost as if they realized he had a way of enchanting them and trapping them. There were too many. As Gavin looked around the clearing, he counted a dozen or more separate swirls of smoke.
Too many.
All of them were darker and much more distinct than the smoke creatures had been when he’d first seen them. Several had faces within the smoke, though they’d not opened their jaws to try to swallow him the way they had when he’d headed to the enchanters. Gavin felt an overwhelming urge to be anywhere but here.
Finally, he stopped.
If the smoke creatures wanted him here, then this was where he was going to be. What he needed was to figure out who controlled them. He moved in a small circuit, turning in place to avoid the smoke creatures.
He’d have to allow the smoke creatures to surround him. Only then could he call upon the power he needed. If he could trap them using a massive enchantment, perhaps he could end this. He didn’t need to find the person responsible or find whatever method they used to release the smoke creatures. That was, if the smoke creatures were some sort of magical item.
What if they are a part of the natural world, preying upon those with magic?
Anna would have known if that were the case.
Gavin stopped in the middle of the clearing with his hands at his sides as he let power flow through him. The smoke creatures circled closer and closer, dozens of them. Too many. They attempted to slam into him, but Gavin braced himself. The enchantment pushed them back.
He feared the enchantment failing. They would swarm him, overwhelm him, and swallow him. They would consume him with their strange power.
Gavin ignored that fear. Instead, he focused on what he could do with them. If they pressed in upon him, then he might be able to contain them.
But there were too many for the enchantments he had taken from Davel.
What if there was another way?
Gavin held out the enchantments, but he also held out the El’aras sword. Squeezing the hilt, he let power pour from him and flow from that core deep within him. The blade exploded with power, and he pushed that power toward the creatures, bursting through them with a vibrant light.
When he had used the sword against the smoke creatures before, nothing had happened. This time, the creatures dissipated, dissolving under the assault. Each time he swiped at the creatures, another surge of power came, a burst of energy that flowed.
He no longer tried to use the enchantments to capture the smoke creatures. Now he swung the blade and carved through them, and the smoke creatures shrieked as the blade ripped through them. It felt strange to hack at the semarrl with a sword, but Gavin could feel it cutting through them, tearing them apart.
Why had Anna been afraid of them?
If she had this kind of power—or more—there should’ve been nothing for her to fear. Only, as he darted through and swung the blade at these creatures, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was something that Anna hadn’t shared with him. Some aspect of this power and ability that she had not revealed to him.
The smoke creatures continued to dissolve. At least, Gavin thought they were dissolving. Each time he carved through them with the blade, they screamed and cried out, then disappeared.
But each time they disappeared, he realized something. They were coming back together.
He started to flow through various fighting techniques. Gavin knew nearly fifty different ones honed over decades of training. Tristan had taught him to fight in many of those techniques, wanting to ensure that Gavin would be able to handle himself regardless of which type of attack came at him—to know the strengths of the fighting style and the weaknesses so that he could counter them.
He had learned to fight with swords, knives, and daggers, but not nearly as much as he had trained in hand-to-hand combat.
He became lost in the rhythm of it, sliding from one technique to the next. Tristan had trained him in his movements, and though he’d never taught Gavin how to fight smoke, somehow the techniques he used seemed right.
As Gavin let the sword carry him through those movements, the end of the blade glowed with his core reserve power, and he knew he would defeat the smoke creatures. Unless the energy within him faded. There was a limit to how much power he had, how much he could push out from him. Eventually, that limi
t would overwhelm him, and he wouldn’t be able to withstand anything more.
Gavin felt pressure building around him again. It was the first time since facing the smoke creatures he’d felt it. He could feel the creatures starting to push in upon him—the sense of their energy, the connection of magic they had. All of it started to squeeze, working their way around him.
Gavin tried to ignore it, focusing instead on the power within him and the core reserve of energy that flowed. He was bolstered by the powder Anna had given him, but the smoke creatures were pushing, pushing, pushing.
He found himself moving through much more compact motions. The smoke creatures dissolved under the sword contact, but then reformed.
This won’t work.
Gavin stopped and braced himself. The creatures swirled around him, pressure continuing to build and slamming into him.
There was nothing he could do.
He allowed the smoke creatures to push in on him, and he focused on how they were doing so. Gavin reached for his core power. Then he pushed it out.
It was almost the same as what he had done when he broke free from the chains Tristan had placed around him. Only, this time there was something different about it.
As Gavin pushed, he could feel the pressure circling around him, which reminded him of the Fates. The Fates’ power had bulged, stretching as he’d attempted to strain beyond it. This was more restrictive, as if anything he might do would continue to squeeze and overwhelm him as the energy collapsed around him.
He was the Chain Breaker.
Power filled him.
Gavin unleashed it, and the smoke creatures were thrown back.
He sagged. He’d been using too much strength.
All to do what? He hadn’t done anything to the smoke creatures. All he’d done was delay them. As they continued to press around him, Gavin doubted he could withstand them much longer. Once they reached him, once they overwhelmed his enchantments…
He had no idea what would happen to him when they did.
He tried to ignore the pressure swirling around him. They circled toward him, and he drew on his core reserves, pushing out once again. He used it to explode that power out from him.
Gavin wouldn’t have many more chances.
Where was the person who was responsible? Someone had stolen an item from the Captain and could use that to control them, which meant they had to be somewhere nearby.
Gavin had made a mistake attempting to fight these creatures rather than searching for the one in control. The semarrl continued circling, pressing in upon him.
Movement in the distance.
A rooftop.
Gavin frowned, though he quickly tried to make it appear as if he wasn’t aware of it. He turned, again calling upon that power deep within him. He would have only a few more chances.
He drew on that power and then jumped. He exploded up, letting it carry him toward the street. Then another jump. This time, he landed on the rooftop. A cloaked figure turned toward him—the same person he’d chased out of the Captain’s fortress, he suspected—holding an onyx sphere that reminded Gavin of the jade egg.
“There you are,” Gavin said.
The figure backed away.
Gavin could feel the smoke creatures swirling in the distance. There was one thing he could try, though he didn’t know if it would be effective. What he needed was an opportunity. Only a moment, nothing more than that.
He pushed the core energy through the enchantment to force the smoke creatures back. It allowed him to face this person alone.
“I need that item,” Gavin said.
“I don’t think so.”
There was something in the voice familiar to Gavin. Had he faced this person before? Given what he had encountered in Yoran, he wouldn’t be at all surprised if he had.
He took another step toward the figure. “I think I do. Now.”
Gavin darted toward them, and the figure slipped back, twisting hurriedly away from him. When they did, the hood of their cloak fell back.
Gavin stopped, frozen in place. “Tristan?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gavin continued to keep the smoke creatures at bay. Even as he did, he could feel his strength fading. He needed all his strength to face Tristan.
Am I really going to have to fight him?
Reaching—and killing—the Captain required skill. Gavin had thought it required magic though the dagger hadn’t glowed when he’d been there. If it had been Tristan, he wouldn’t have needed any magic.
“What are you doing here?” His gaze drifted to the dark egg. He didn’t know what else to call it, but it seemed fitting. Don’t let him take it.
Tristan looked different than the last time Gavin had seen him, with a bit more weight, though he seemed even more muscular than before. His hair had the same streaks of gray, though the lines around the corners of his eyes had deepened. Shadows circled around him, though that might’ve only been Gavin’s imagination. He had on a heavy black cloak, one that would blend into the darkness.
Within Tristan’s smile, there was something that reminded Gavin of all the times he had trained under the man standing before him—the torment, the torture, all the lessons that Tristan had taught him.
“I’m doing what you were not able to do,” Tristan said.
“What I couldn’t do?”
“Yes.” Tristan held the egg out, and power started to batter Gavin. “Interesting. It seems as if you have an enchantment.”
“I do,” Gavin said.
“I’m sure you’re aware that enchantments fade with the proper exposure.”
“I’m aware.”
“I imagine you think you can hold on to the enchantment long enough for you to take this from me.”
“I hope so,” Gavin said.
“And if you cannot?”
“Then you’ll destroy me. Others in the city. Everything.”
A strange smile twisted Tristan’s face. “Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Because it must be done.”
“And you’re the one who stole that from the Captain,” Gavin said, nodding to the onyx sphere.
Gavin had so many questions when it came to Tristan’s sudden appearance here, but even as he asked them, he couldn’t help but feel as if there was something he needed to better understand. Until then, he couldn’t begin the next step in whatever he would have to do. Almost as if this were the next step in some training.
“You cannot begin to understand,” Tristan said.
“I think I can. I think you’re trying to prove you can do something.”
Tristan nodded to him. “Think whatever you would like.”
Gavin circled around him, holding on to the enchantment. The longer he waited here, the more his strength would begin to fade. Were it not for the powder Anna had given him, he might have lost his strength already.
He worried what would happen to him when the effects of the powder faded, when his strength faded. It was possible he would lose all remaining strength and be overpowered.
Gavin moved to the side, holding on to the energy within him and bracing himself with the powder. He let that sense flow into him, through him. There was considerable power still within him. He had to try to find whatever it would take to push back Tristan.
He had to get the dark egg from him.
“All I need is that,” Gavin said, nodding to the egg in Tristan’s hand.
“Is that all you need?” Tristan asked, a twisted smile on his face. “You’ve been chasing me. All this time, you’ve been looking for understanding, wanting to find me.”
“Because I thought you were dead.”
“Perhaps you would have been better off thinking I was.”
“Perhaps I would have,” Gavin said. He darted forward, but Tristan moved just as quickly. Of course he would.
Tristan had trained him, and anything Gavin might do—every fighting technique and style he’d learned over the years—had originated
from Tristan. That wasn’t to say that Gavin hadn’t expanded on that. In the days since leaving his mentor, Gavin had continued to train, searching out others to help him augment his fighting styles.
He liked to think that he’d become a more skilled fighter, though Gavin didn’t know if that was enough against somebody like Tristan. Against somebody who had taught him and trained him and proven time and again that he could overwhelm Gavin.
Strangely, now that he stood across from Tristan, there was a part of him that wanted to find out. He wanted to challenge himself, test himself against his old mentor. Wasn’t that what he’d been looking for during his time in Yoran—a way to test himself?
Tristan watched him. “You don’t have much time, Gavin. They’re coming for you. You called them here.”
“I’m not their target, though, am I?”
Tristan shook his head. “No.”
“You sent them against the Fates.”
“Perhaps.”
Gavin had been trying to figure it out. “You used the appearance of the egg.” He waited for a reaction but didn’t see much of one from Tristan’s face. Could Tristan have been the one to steal the jade egg from the El’aras in the first place? “You’ve been trying to draw them out,” Gavin said.
“Perhaps.”
“Why?”
Tristan backed away from him. Most of the rooftop was flat, but he started to climb a section that sloped upward. When he moved overhead, he would have a better vantage. “Because it was necessary, Gavin Lorren,” Tristan said. “And you are not ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“To do what I trained you to do.”
“I won’t be used.”
“You have always been used,” Tristan said with a laugh. “All of you have been. That’s what made you so useful.”
“Until you were attacked.”
“Was I?”
“Your students rebelled. They attacked you,” Gavin said.
“Or did I want them to rebel? How else would I have maneuvered them into place?”
Gavin couldn’t imagine that Tristan would’ve wanted to be attacked the way he was. But seeing him now, the way that he looked at Gavin with a strange, dark expression in his eyes, Gavin couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps that was what Tristan had wanted after all.
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 80