“It’s just that this seems more potent than I would’ve expected. And more than you did too, from what you’re saying.”
Gavin sighed. “Something’s going on.”
“Right. Now we have to figure out if this is tied to you or to the city, or even…”
When Wrenlow didn’t finish, Gavin laughed. “Go on. You can say what you’re thinking.”
“Well, I can’t help but think that we have another element in the city complicating things. I know you haven’t shared too much with the constables about your friends, but it’s possible they have something to do with this.”
“I have never known the El’aras to use enchantments. And have certainly never known them to do anything like this.”
“I’m not saying they’re the ones using the enchantments,” Wrenlow said quickly.
Gavin could easily imagine Wrenlow working through his notes, trying to piece together some puzzle only he could see. His friend had one of the sharpest minds he’d ever worked with, which made him valuable to Gavin—a value Gavin feared losing.
And he would lose it. Eventually.
With each passing day, Gavin could feel Wrenlow, and everything within Yoran, starting to slip away from him. As he studied with Anna and tried to master the magic within him, he could feel something changing. More than that, he could feel that something had to change. He needed it to, if only so that he could better understand himself, and better understand who he was meant to be.
There was still the issue of what Tristan had been training him for and why. What had he been trying to turn Gavin into? He’d been searching for word on Tristan but had found nothing. It was as if he didn’t exist—and hadn’t come to the city in the first place. Gavin might have to leave Yoran to find out more about his old mentor.
Yet one more reason he might have to leave.
Whatever was going on remained tied to Tristan. He had wanted to use Gavin. He might even still be doing so.
“I’m just saying we need to at least consider the possibility that the El’aras are responsible for this,” Wrenlow said. “Or that somebody is after the El’aras. That’s all.”
Gavin looked at the pile of stone debris on the ground in front of him. He shook his head. “That’s all?”
“Well, I have other ideas, but I didn’t think you wanted to hear them.”
“Why don’t I come back to the Dragon and we can see what you’ve come up with?”
Wrenlow was quiet for a moment. “I was hoping to be off duty for the rest of the night.”
Olivia.
More and more often, Wrenlow wanted to be off duty, as he called it. Not that Gavin could blame him. Wrenlow was a young man, and he had been alone for long enough. He’d traveled with Gavin, working with him, but Wrenlow didn’t need to be like Gavin.
“You take whatever time you want,” Gavin told him.
“Are you sure? You know I don’t have to—”
“I’m sure. Besides, I still have a few more leads to check on. I’m determined to figure out where some of those clusters of enchantments have been disappearing to.”
“You have the other locations I gave you?”
Gavin snorted. “You’ve mentioned them, you gave me a list, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve painted me a picture.”
“I haven’t been that obnoxious,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin glanced once again to the debris in the street before heading away to the places he still had to investigate.
It was all tied to what the Captain had done in the days before he had liquidated his cache of enchantments. Some of them had been stored in warehouses, resecured by Gavin and Gaspar, but others had managed to slip away. As far as they had been able to tell, there were still clusters of enchantments all throughout the city. He would return them to Zella and the other enchanters so that they could decide what to do with all of them.
“You can call if you need me,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin laughed. “Not if you’re with Olivia.”
“I can still listen.”
“No. Please. Take the enchantment off. I don’t want any more accidents.”
“About that. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to trigger it—”
“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Gavin said. “But have a nice time. And ask her if any of the enchanters can make lifelike stone enchantments like these. If you find that out, at least send word to me.”
“I will.”
Gavin slipped along the street, waiting for Wrenlow to speak up again, but he didn’t.
It was strange. In one sense, it was peaceful. There had been a time when he had never taken a job with somebody chiming in his ear. He didn’t necessarily need the assistance, though the more he had worked with Wrenlow, the more he had come to appreciate him, regardless of how much he might speak up and interrupt Gavin’s missions.
But maybe it was time for him to get used to working alone again.
He felt another surge of magic, something powerful and unlikely to be enchanters, and Gavin hurried toward it. He had promised the constables that he would offer some measure of protection to the city. He was determined to do that. Even if it meant doing it alone.
Chapter Two
It wasn’t the reaching of magic that was difficult for Gavin, as it had been in the past. Gavin now understood that what he’d long called his core reserves were something else, some hidden piece of himself that tapped into the magic he possessed as part El’aras, but a magic he had never known before. Now that he had it, he could feel that power flowing into him, and it bubbled deep within him, yet he still was sore from fighting the enchantments the night before.
“Just hold on to it,” Anna said.
She stood across from Gavin in the large stone warehouse they had chosen for their practice sessions. The building was empty, since anything in it would have been destroyed otherwise. He had picked this place because it was where Cyran had attacked him before, but also because there was a certain magical presence he could practically feel, something that pushed inward, containing the power he might summon. He didn’t want to cause any disruption anywhere else in the city, and he certainly didn’t want the constables to know he was practicing like this.
The warehouse was dim, the only illumination coming from the single lantern Anna had brought. The El’aras-made lantern had some sort of enchantment that cast a blue glow, radiating out and flowing beyond the cylindrical shape. Its light drifted into the rest of the warehouse, where it left shadows looming in the distance.
“You must manage to maintain your hold, Gavin Lorren.”
Anna’s fingers were pressed together, and a serene expression was fixed on her beautiful face. Every so often, she would cock her head to the side, golden hair falling around her shoulders, as if studying him for an answer he couldn’t provide. Then she would frown.
Her disappointment in him was evident. And given all of their practice so far and how little of the power he had mastered, it wasn’t altogether surprising that she would be disappointed.
“It’s not the holding that’s the challenge,” Gavin said.
He glanced over to the door, where a pair of El’aras warriors stood watch. Since Anna had decided to remain in Yoran, several warriors had come to the city as her guardians, including Thomas, the old El’aras warrior who Gavin had fought when he’d first encountered the El’aras. They hadn’t spoken much to Gavin in the time they’d been in the city, but he didn’t really expect them to.
She shook her head, giving a soft tsk. “Only because you have chosen to make it difficult,” she said.
Gavin turned back to her. Chosen. He would have scoffed at that if he wasn’t trying to maintain his connection as much as he was. It was a very different type of learning than what he had done when he had trained with Tristan years ago. This was no less intense, but it was a distinct type of intensity that left him equally exhausted, but for entirely different reasons.
“I have the power within me,”
he said.
“Then hold it,” Anna said. “You must let it fill you, and you must become aware of it at all times. That power must stay with you so that you recognize it and it flows through every bit of your being.”
Gavin resisted the urge to laugh. There was no point in doing so. She was incredibly serious about what she expected from him, even when he couldn’t fathom just how to hold on to the power the way she described. From what he had seen, she intended for him to master some great power he couldn’t envision, and she expected him to have control he could not have.
“You said that the last time we worked, and it’s no easier this time than it was then.”
“The last time, you refused to let it flow through you,” Anna said. She managed to be far calmer than he felt.
For some reason, whenever he tried to reach for this power and hold it the way she described, it seemed to amplify his agitation.
“I did let it flow through me,” Gavin said. He glanced over to the warriors again before turning back to Anna.
“Last time, you held on to it briefly, but you did not let it flow through you. It is why I continue to encourage you to do so,” she said. Her hands were still pressed in front of her, and she stood in an almost statuesque pose.
“Is this how you learned?” he asked.
“It is not. But then again, as I was raised among the El’aras people, there has been no reason for me to learn differently.”
Gavin grunted. It wasn’t the first time she had made a comment like that.
He knew he was old compared to when the El’aras first trained in understanding their magic. This made it more difficult for him, though supposedly not impossible. She claimed he could still learn to touch his power—it was just a matter of him trying to grasp the complexities of the magic, and to come to terms with what it meant for him.
“Why don’t we practice the way you practice?” he asked.
“Because I fear we do not have the time,” Anna said. She broke her concentration, setting her hands part, and looked over to him. “If there was the time to give you decades to master your connection to it, perhaps we would not need to rush. Unfortunately, you do not have that time, and neither do I.”
“Decades?”
It was the first time Anna had suggested her age.
“That is what you choose to focus on?” Anna asked.
“I’m trying to understand. If you’re decades old—”
“How old do you think Tristan was?”
Gavin shrugged. “To be honest, I hadn’t given it that much thought.”
“Older than you would believe,” she said softly. “And that is because he is descended from the same people as you, Gavin Lorren. You have the same potential.”
It was a sobering realization to learn what would happen to him over time. Maybe it made sense for him to come to know the El’aras better. If they would age similarly to him, then he wouldn’t have to feel as if he would lose his connection to others. Not the way he did lately.
“Now,” Anna said, “we will try this again. As I instructed you previously, I want you to focus on what you find within yourself. I ask that you feel for that power and let that energy flow through you.”
“I’d rather hear more about your training.”
She shook her head slightly and regarded him for a few moments. She did that from time to time, and Gavin hadn’t managed to figure out why he bothered her as much as he did. Maybe it was just that he was the Chain Breaker, or perhaps it was his unknown El’aras heritage. Regardless, he had a feeling that she had hesitations about working with him.
“It matters little to what must be done now,” she stated. “As I have said, we do not have the luxury of time that I had.”
“I’m still curious,” Gavin said.
“If you are curious, then you may come stay with the El’aras. In fact, given how much you still must learn about the power inside of you, that might be best. You would be permitted.”
“Permitted?” he asked, and he started to grin. “I didn’t realize you would refuse me.”
“Yes, permitted. It is not a guarantee that you would be allowed to spend time with the El’aras were you not of our stock. Because of what you have done and how you’ve proven yourself, you would be authorized to stay.”
Once again, she hesitated. She watched him, and the gleam in her eyes suggested to Gavin that she wanted to say something to him but wasn’t quite sure what.
He knew it didn’t have to do with the magic she was trying to teach him. She’d been open with that and had shared everything she seemed to know, even if she didn’t believe he would have the time to learn how to control his power quite as well as she did.
Maybe it had more to do with the fact that she was the Risen Shard.
He still didn’t understand what that truly meant. She was royalty, of a sort, which was probably why she hesitated now. She probably felt that working with him was a waste of her time.
Perhaps it was.
“And that would mean—”
“That would mean you would study and learn the way an El’aras would.”
“Decades,” Gavin said.
She shrugged. “Would that be so intolerable?”
“Not intolerable,” Gavin said, shaking his head.
He looked around the dark warehouse and remembered the fighting that had taken place here. He had nearly lost Wrenlow, but he had done everything in his power to ensure that his friend was returned safely. Gavin had chosen this place because of that magical connection, and the fact that the building hadn’t been destroyed when magic had been used here. The building itself appeared old, ancient enough that he thought a layer of protection might keep it safe and give them the opportunity to practice without interruption.
Gavin let out a long sigh. “Just not practical.”
“That is why I am here instead.”
He stepped back. “At least tell me how the training you go through is different.”
“We learn to hold on to what you call your core reserves. It becomes a part of us.”
“You do that constantly?”
Anna nodded. “It becomes one with us. We access it and learn to fill it. The longer we master that control, the easier it becomes for us to use that power consistently.”
Even trying to hold on to that power for a stretch of time left Gavin weakened. He couldn’t imagine doing so indefinitely, and certainly couldn’t fathom trying to maintain that hold while doing everything to operate under the energy indefinitely.
“Some find that reaching that connection is difficult. We have never understood the reason why some feel it is a part of themselves, whereas others find it held back from them.” She gave him a small smile. “But all of us have the potential.”
“I’m not full El’aras, though,” Gavin said.
At least, he didn’t think he was. He didn’t really know what he was or how he had that ability, only that he had come to suspect he was only half El’aras, the same as Tristan.
“Perhaps not,” she said.
Gavin smiled. “Perhaps?”
Anna hesitated a moment, then swept her gaze down to the lantern. “When I first met you, I thought you were from one of the other families.”
“You thought that I was El’aras?”
She tipped her head slightly. “I did. Even now, I cannot say you are less than full El’aras.”
“I doubt Tristan would’ve been able to find me if I were full El’aras,” he said.
“Perhaps not, but you have demonstrated things I find concerning.”
“How so?” Gavin took a step back. “You’ve mentioned your concern before.”
She said nothing.
“What is it?”
“There are aspects of my fate that I have yet to fully understand.”
Gavin laughed. “Your fate? As in the Fates?”
She shook her head, turning away from him briefly. He couldn’t see what she did, though she reached into her pocket. Was she gr
abbing the Shard she carried? Gavin doubted she would keep it with her so openly, though he didn’t know what she had done with it while she was here with him.
“Nothing like that,” she said. “My people do not believe in that type of power, though the Fates took on a moniker that refers to them as something more. Unfortunately, it alludes to a greater sense of purpose. Much like I have a greater sense of purpose.”
“And that’s why you don’t want to be here. I’m interrupting whatever purpose you have.”
She watched him. “I wonder if perhaps I do need to be here.”
“To help me find my purpose?”
She didn’t answer right away.
“What concerns you about me?” he asked again.
There was another bit of tension in her eyes, but when it eased, she breathed out slowly and regarded him again. “Many things, Gavin Lorren. For one, your tolerance for the sh’rasn. It is beyond what most of the El’aras would be able to take of the substance. There is something to the demands of it that overwhelm even the people with the most potent magic.”
Gavin started to smile as he glanced over to the door. He knew he should be careful with his reactions, since he suspected that the other two El’aras standing guard were listening. Likely everything he said would get back to Thomas in some way, which Gavin didn’t really want to deal with unless he had to.
“So you’re impressed by my tolerance,” he said.
“I did not mean it as a compliment, at least not the kind of compliment you take it as. I mean it merely as a way of sharing with you that it is intriguing you have the ability to tolerate what you do.”
Gavin had recognized that there was something about the sh’rasn that worried her, and it was more than just his ability to tolerate the powder. There was some other aspect to it that she hadn’t told him, but she didn’t need to. Not at this point. Now that he had taken it multiple times, he recognized how it felt and the power it granted him.
“You said, ‘for one,’” Gavin said.
Anna nodded. “For one. The connection you have has demonstrated that you can have control over power. I suspect that your training helped you in that understanding, and allowed you to master what our people struggle with.”
The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5) Page 2