The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “It’s been my experience that places that try to control magic too much end up losing their hold over it,” he said, “which is why the Society has been as effective as it has. I know the people here don’t want to go back to that time, and it probably won’t come to that, but it still can be dangerous to try to control it.”

  Jessica fixed him with a look. “Says the man who has magic.”

  “The man who can’t control his magic,” Gaspar said.

  “I’m trying to control it,” Gavin said.

  “And you destroyed what today?”

  “You destroyed something?” Jessica asked.

  Gavin grabbed a mug of ale off of the tray Jessica had brought over. He took a long drink, then leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I obviously didn’t mean to. I was trying to understand the power. I was doing what Anna instructed.”

  “And what did Anna instruct you to do?” she said.

  Gavin glanced over, but then he shook off the irritation, knowing that she was frustrated for more reasons than he knew. “Apparently, the power I can reach is something the El’aras can call upon constantly.”

  “That’s different than what I’ve heard sorcerers can do,” Gaspar said.

  “But it explains a little bit about the El’aras, and how they are so… capable.”

  “You don’t need to do that to be capable,” Wrenlow said.

  Gavin shrugged. “Maybe not, but I have to imagine what might happen if I were able to draw on that kind of power consistently.”

  It would be something like an enchantment, but a perpetual one—which could be dangerous for him. If there was one thing he had come to understand, it was the depths of his core reserves. He knew how to tell how much power he had remaining, but not only that, he had learned to accentuate his strength. The sh’rasn powder that Anna had given him allowed him to draw on even more magic. Maybe that was why she worried about him using it. There were consequences Gavin had not come to understand.

  He leaned back, taking another drink. Anna seemed to think he was on a time crunch, and that the longer he waited, the less likely he was to gain understanding of his power before something worse came.

  Gavin shook his head. “Davel is convinced I need to leave the city.”

  “I’m sure he is,” Gaspar said. “You pose a threat to him, and he doesn’t like anybody who does.”

  “It’s not just that I pose a threat,” Gavin said. “It’s more about what I represent, I think. There’s a part of me that suspects that he views me as a challenge to his authority. I don’t want any real authority here, though, but I doubt he will believe that.” He looked across to Gaspar. “And it’s not as if the city is particularly safe. Not with me here. That’s why I’m not sure he’s wrong. What if I should leave?”

  Wrenlow was watching him, and Gavin forced a smile. He knew that if he were to leave, Wrenlow would be forced to choose. Would he stay with Olivia and have the opportunity to have something of a life, or would he go with his friend?

  Gavin had gone after Wrenlow and saved him when he had been captured, but maybe now was the time to separate. Given what Wrenlow had gone through, and the stability he’d found in Yoran, maybe it was time for Gavin to tell his friend that it was his turn to relax, his turn to find a measure of peace.

  It was Wrenlow’s turn to no longer fight.

  “It’s nothing I’m doing now,” Gavin said. “Only that—”

  He froze.

  Distantly, a cold washed through his entire being. He’d experienced a similar sensation before, but only in the presence of potent magic.

  “I felt something,” Gavin said. He nodded to Jessica, who got up from her seat.

  Gavin slid to the end of the bench and paused, closing his eyes and focusing. Having released the power he had earlier in the evening, he didn’t have much remaining. That was the thing about his core reserves. He could call upon them, but there were limitations. When he used them too fast and too often, he found that the magic didn’t respond quite as well as what he needed. In this case, he only needed enough to try to trace that source of energy.

  As he got to his feet, Gaspar leaned across the table, grabbing his wrist. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I think there’s magic here.”

  Jessica looked over, her eyes widening.

  “Not in the tavern,” Gavin said quickly, and relief swept across her face. “But in the city. There’s magic around.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, and he focused on what he could feel.

  The distant sense of pressure was how he detected the existence of magic. He could feel the squeeze along his arms and his legs, as if there was some tension beginning to build, some band beginning to wrap around him. If there was anything that Gavin was familiar with, it was understanding the collapsing power that started to circle around him.

  “You’re going, aren’t you?” Wrenlow said.

  Gavin nodded. “I think I need to.”

  “We’re going too,” Gaspar said.

  Imogen got to her feet, and she nodded to him. Gavin would gladly welcome her along, but he was more concerned about Gaspar, who had nearly died when he’d dealt with magic not long ago.

  “You don’t have to be a part of this. I can do it,” Gavin said, and he tilted his head toward Imogen. “And besides, she can come with me. We can call the El’aras—”

  Gaspar grunted. “I’m not letting the damn El’aras run free through the city.”

  “I didn’t realize you felt so strongly about them.”

  “It’s not that. This is my city, and I’m not letting anybody attack if I can help otherwise.”

  Gavin worried that Gaspar was heading into something he shouldn’t, but he wasn’t going to stop the old man.

  “At least you have some enchantments with you,” Gavin said.

  “Always.”

  “Maybe I’ll just sit this one out,” Wrenlow said.

  “That’s fine,” Gavin said. “You stay here and let me know if there’s anything coming to the tavern.”

  “Do you think there will be?”

  Gavin sighed. “I hope not, but I don’t know. If somebody is here because of me…”

  That was his concern. There was a distinct possibility that somebody with magic had come to the city because of him. Regardless, he wasn’t about to leave the tavern unprotected, which was why having Wrenlow stay here was more beneficial than him being out in the field. He could keep an eye on things to make sure nothing else happened to the Dragon.

  “How about you?” Gavin asked him. “Do you have enchantments with you?”

  Wrenlow pulled up his sleeves, revealing a pair of bracelets on either wrist. “Olivia made these for me. They’re such intricate designs. And I think if I were to—”

  “We can talk about that later,” Gavin said. “For now…”

  He could feel the energy beginning to build again—the power that was out there—and knew something was going to take place quickly if he didn’t do anything, and fast.

  He started toward the door and pulled it open, when he felt a surge of power explode at the edge of the city unlike anything he’d ever felt before.

  “Damn,” Gavin muttered. “I hate being right.”

  Chapter Five

  They hurried through the streets, passing darkened stores closed for the night, homes with candles burning in windows, and even a few other warehouses that reminded him of the events that had happened earlier in the evening. It was times like these when Gavin wished he still had access to the stone wolf. Gavin didn’t enjoy riding it, but he did like moving much faster.

  He looked over to see Gaspar keeping pace, moving quickly and easily.

  “Maybe I need an enchantment like that,” he said.

  “I thought you still took them,” Gaspar said.

  “I burn through them too fast,” Gavin said. It had to be tied to his natural abilities. “Besides, I prefer to make sure I don’t really need them.”

  It was
pride, but it was also something more than that—it was a practicality. He still felt like he couldn’t become too dependent on using enchantments, and wanted to make sure he could trust his own skill.

  These days, that skill meant trying to understand the power within him. If he could learn what Anna was trying to teach him, he wouldn’t need to rely on any external enchantments and could instead call that power through him and create his own magic. That all depended on having control over it, though. With the ring, now he no longer knew if he could have enough control, or if the control he found would make a difference.

  “So you felt the magic,” Gaspar said, barely huffing as they raced alongside each other. Imogen jogged next to Gaspar, her sword already unsheathed. It was a slender blade, whip thin, and Gavin knew she could be deadly effective with it. “Can you tell anything more about it?”

  “I think it’s impressive I can detect magic at all,” Gavin said.

  “There you go again. Getting impressed by your own connection to it.”

  Gavin looked over at Gaspar, who kept his gaze fixed straight ahead.

  They raced toward the fires in the distance, and Gavin could feel the pressure building around him again. It left his skin feeling tight, as if whatever power out there was trying to constrict him and prevent him from using magic.

  He frowned.

  “I’m not feeling any sort of magic here,” he said, slowing.

  Gaspar slowed with him, and he nodded toward the distance. “You said you felt something, and I’ve learned to trust you when things are going wrong. So get moving.”

  Gavin closed his eyes for a moment, turning in place in the empty street. It wasn’t all that late, which left him wondering why it would be deserted at this point in the evening. They weren’t in a heavily populated part of the city, but still close enough that he would’ve expected someone to be outside.

  “I can feel a sort of pressure on me,” he said, looking over to Gaspar and then turning to Imogen. He watched her, but he didn’t see any sign from her that she felt anything similar. Gavin still didn’t know the depths of Imogen’s power or how much control she had, though he suspected it was considerable.

  “I don’t care what you can feel,” Gaspar said. “If something is taking place, you owe it to everyone to protect the city.”

  Gavin nodded slowly and frowned. “I do, but what if this is about the city trying to protect itself from me?”

  “Why would Yoran care about you?”

  The pressure started to take on a different sense. Given what Jessica and Wrenlow had mentioned, could this be the result of the enchanters and constables placing their protections?

  And if they were…

  What was the explosion? What had he felt?

  Gavin started jogging again, hurrying toward the fires.

  “Something’s out there,” he muttered to himself.

  “You’re damn right it is,” Gaspar said, “which is why I’m even here. I thought you knew that.”

  “I’m just not sure what I’m feeling.”

  Would Anna and the other El’aras come?

  Gavin took a deep breath, trying to reach for the core reserves of his power.

  He couldn’t.

  He had been cut off.

  If it was potent enough to take away the magic of someone who was part El’aras, then it had to be potent enough to do the same for sorcerers.

  He smiled to himself. If they were really that effective at mitigating magic, it would offer a measure of protection that the city could truly utilize.

  “What you smirking about, boy?” Gaspar asked.

  “I can’t call on my core reserves,” Gavin said.

  “And that makes you happy?”

  “It does if this is the work of the enchanters and constables. If it’s not, I’d be nervous.”

  “You can’t tell?”

  Gavin shook his head. They reached the northern edge of Yoran. The power that had exploded in the night was just beyond its outskirts.

  He lingered on the road leading out of the city, looking into the darkness. The fire that he’d seen burned on the edge of the city—one of the enchantments Davel and his people had been placing, Gavin suspected. He reached into his pocket, slipping on his enchantment for enhanced eyesight, but found that its power was also fading. At least that power still held.

  “You might find that your enchantments don’t work quite as well now either,” Gavin said.

  “Then they need to fine-tune things,” Gaspar said. “Can’t go without having access to enchantments, can we?”

  “I think the constables would say they could.”

  Only…

  Gavin had to think that Davel would have some way of using enchantments himself. He wouldn’t have wanted to restrict his own access to magic, which meant there would be some way around it. Unless it only applied to the enchantments made by the constables. That would require a fine level of control, something that would probably take more skill than any enchanter would be able to use.

  Gavin darted forward. As he did, he could see movement in front of him—a shadowy form that stood out against the night. Suddenly, the dark form separated. One became two, then four, then eight. They were humanoid in appearance, though featureless and made of black as dark as night.

  Each time, it doubled.

  Gaspar stiffened, and Gavin motioned for them to wait behind the protection of the enchantments around the city.

  He stared, not knowing exactly what this was, though he had heard stories of something like this. There were dark energies in the world, which was something Tristan had drilled into his mind. There were also creatures of darkness, and what he saw now left him suspecting that this was one such creature.

  He’d only heard of it, never seen it. “A hyadan,” Gavin said.

  “I take it you’ve run into this before?” Gaspar asked.

  “You don’t want any part of that,” Gavin said, though from Gaspar’s expression, it looked like he’d heard of them too.

  He frowned. This wasn’t anything he would’ve expected to see here. Which meant somebody had sent it.

  Tristan.

  It had to be.

  “Watch that it doesn’t touch you,” Imogen said.

  Gavin looked at her with eyebrows raised. He wasn’t terribly surprised that she knew about them, but he still felt some. The hyadan were said to be creatures of dark power, similar to the semarrl, but not controlled in the same way. At least, not that he knew of.

  “Why does it look like they are doubling?” a voice said from behind them.

  Gavin spun to see Davel arrive.

  “I gather that this protection over magic is yours?” Gavin asked him.

  Davel shrugged. “I told you I was going to have to do something about what you’ve done here.”

  “Which means you’ve decided to limit all magic in the city.”

  “The enchanters have agreed. Zella too. We thought we could protect the city from sorcerers who might come after you.”

  Imogen snorted. “Maybe, but the hyadan aren’t sorcerers. And you can’t kill them.”

  “You can kill them,” Gavin said, “but it takes a unique attack. Tristan told me about them—”

  “Told you?” Gaspar asked.

  “I haven’t faced everything in the world.” He looked at Imogen. Had she fought the hyadan before? “They’re incredibly difficult to kill.”

  “What kind of creature is that, then?” Davel asked.

  There were several other constables behind him, nearly a dozen now, and more figures moved in the street toward them. Even with all of the constables coming, without the enchantments, there wouldn’t be any way for them to defeat the hyadan. This would be too difficult, too powerful to stop.

  “You’re going to need to lower the magical barriers you just placed,” Gavin said.

  “No,” Imogen said. “They aren’t sorcerers, but they require magic to duplicate.”

  Tristan hadn’t mentioned that
to him, but other words echoed in Gavin’s mind: They make for good training, but only if you survive.

  Tristan would want him to head out and test himself against the hyadan now.

  “Then they’ll just stand out there and duplicate,” Gavin said. And eventually overwhelm the city—along with the chance that anyone could leave. As he watched them, he knew he didn’t have much time at all. Minutes, not hours.

  “But they will not come in here,” Imogen countered.

  She seemed unusually tense, even for her. Gavin breathed out, frustration filling him.

  “Are they here for you?” Davel asked.

  He shrugged. “Why don’t I go and see? They’d be good training.”

  Gaspar growled at him. “What are you—”

  Gavin didn’t give him the chance to finish. He strode forward, and a tingling washed along his skin as he approached some invisible barrier. Suddenly, the power of the core reserves surged within him.

  He glanced back at the city and saw a shimmering shield that now seemed to surround it. At least the enchanters’ power held, but for how long?

  “I’m afraid the city is not accepting any new visitors,” he said, smiling at the first hyadan which had spawned the rest. Was that the one he needed to be most careful with?

  Practicing his skills on them didn’t sound all bad. And maybe Tristan had been the one to send them here.

  A strange hissing sound came from the hyadan.

  Gavin cocked his head to the side. “I don’t understand. Were you trying to talk to me?”

  The creatures surged, a dozen of them flowing across the road and sweeping toward him. He reached for his El’aras sword. He wasn’t going to take any chances. He pulled on his core reserves, letting that energy flow through him. As it did, the blade started to glow slowly, but it built rapidly.

  In the last few weeks, Gavin had been working with various fighting styles, trying to train his mind and be ready for anything he might have to face. He hadn’t expected to fight some mysterious dark creature, but at least he didn’t have to do it while worrying about power limiting him.