“I take it you’re with them,” he said.
No answer. They kept coming toward him.
He had dealt with the El’aras before, but how many could he handle at one time? And how many of them would have enchantments?
He flowed through various sword techniques, but he quickly realized that wasn’t going to work. In order for him to succeed here, Gavin was going to need to use more than just his own core reserves. He had to succeed in tapping into the power of the ring. If he could.
He had not succeeded often enough, certainly not enough that he felt confident he could do it now.
But he had to try. He had no choice but to do so.
And so he focused. He called upon the energy within him, letting that power flow and fill him.
And then he pushed through the ring.
Energy exploded, and Gavin moved faster than any of the attackers. He was enchanted, drawing on his own power, but also something even greater: the power of the El’aras.
He darted forward, carving through them, cutting them down without hesitation. These were El’aras who would harm him. Who would work with a Toral. Who would release the hyadan.
He could have no hesitation.
And then they were all down, Theren’s help now removed.
He still had to stop him, but Gavin started to think he could.
He paused, breathing slowly. It wasn’t over, but at least he had a better sense of what was going on.
“If you’re there, Gaspar, give me some way of finding you,” he said.
He didn’t hear anything. Instead, there was a tapping sound through the enchantment. It was coming from nearby.
Gavin followed that sound; followed that sense of energy. There was something about the city that felt different from Yoran. Probably the magic that crackled around him. He didn’t even need the glow of the El’aras dagger to know there was power. He was aware of it almost constantly. Within Yoran, he had begun to be able to sense magic around him without relying on the El’aras weapons, but he had not felt anything like this. The strangeness was much more than just the way the city appeared—the towering skyline that stretched up the hillside, the ever increasingly large buildings towering over him—and had more to do with the feeling he had.
Gavin paused, trying to piece together just what he was detecting and why it bothered him as much as it did, but he couldn’t quite place it.
And maybe he didn’t need to.
As he came around the corner, he saw a shadowy form leaning against one building, with five others in front of them. More El’aras.
Gavin snarled and jumped forward, still holding on to the power of his core reserves, letting that energy flow through him. As it did, power guided him, and he used all of that to get to them. He whipped through the Leier techniques, drawing on the ring, and had all five of the attackers down within a moment.
He spun, and a blade caught his.
“Imogen,” he said. “Came to rescue Gaspar too?”
“How did you learn that?” she asked, looking at Gavin with one eyebrow arched.
“I watched you.”
Imogen shifted her feet and glided toward him, sweeping her blade in a flourish of movement. Another pattern. Gavin copied it.
She tipped her head to the side. “Impressive.”
“I thought you were watching the outskirts of the city.”
He could feel the hint of reverberation through the enchantment he carried, and knew that the keystone was not far.
“I’m going to help find the keystone,” Imogen said.
“I welcome your help. Between the hyadan, the El’aras, and maybe a Toral, it might be more than I can handle on my own.”
Chapter Twenty
Gaspar remained in the shadows, leaning up against the building. He had been quiet ever since Gavin had come across him, and Gavin suspected he was more injured than he was letting on.
Imogen was opening up to Gavin, revealing some part of her past with him, and he needed to understand it.
“How does the stone work?” he asked.
“It was my quest,” she said, her voice quiet. “I came searching for it. We don’t know the true origin of the stone. My people believe that an ancient and powerful dark sorcerer created it. One of the first dark sorcerers. They had power unlike any that has been seen in this world before. And they fueled the stone with that power.”
“Could it have been a Sul’toral?” Gavin didn’t know much about them, only that the Toral served them.
“It’s possible,” she said. “We have some experience with them as well.” Her voice was soft, almost sorrowful. “It took many years for us to discover that there was a singular stone that replicated, similar to how the hyadan replicate.”
“And then you came to Loruv, realized that the stone was here, and who was controlling it?”
“Another sorcerer,” Imogen said. “One that I cut down and claimed the stone from, but I did not do it alone. I had the others of the Twelve with me.” She shook her head. “It was my bond quest, but I could not have done it alone. I needed their help.”
Gavin frowned. “Do you have some way of communicating with the others of the Twelve?”
“I do.”
“Tell them to meet us here.”
“They are supposed to be guarding the outskirts of the city.”
“We might need them here. If we’re dealing with El’aras, a Toral, and hyadan, we are going to need all the skill we can muster.”
Imogen pressed her lips together and started tapping something on her side. There was a rhythmic quality to it, some sort of energy and buildup of power.
Gavin nodded toward the buildings in the center of the city. “He’s drawing us forward. Toward the middle, toward sorcerers, and I suspect toward a trap.”
“That is likely,” Imogen said.
“And if he is working with a Toral, we have to be prepared for that kind of power.”
“I will be ready.”
“No,” Gavin said. “You and the Twelve need to take on the hyadan. I will focus on Theren and whatever Toral powers are here.”
“Are you—”
She didn’t get a chance to finish.
Darkness started to come at them. At first, Gavin thought that maybe it was one of the Twelve coming, but the longer he stared, the more he realized it was one of the strange-looking hyadan.
Imogen spun toward it, and she whipped her blade around, jamming it into the creature’s mouth. The creature shrieked and burst into nothingness.
“That will alert the others,” she said.
He nodded and looked around him, watching for any other sign of the hyadan, but he didn’t see anything.
Gaspar came toward them and glanced over to Imogen. “This isn’t a fight I can be a part of, but I can do something to help you. I can watch,” he said.
Gavin started to laugh. “I can imagine how Wrenlow might feel, learning you want to take over his job.”
Imogen smiled. “He might be disappointed he’s lost his place on the team.”
“Would the two of you stop?” Gaspar said, shaking his head and glaring at her. “Here I thought you were on my side.”
“I am,” she said. “But I can see the value in harassing you.”
“You’re a terrible influence,” he said to Gavin.
“You’d better get going, old man,” Gavin urged. “We might need you to use enhanced eyesight, though. I don’t know if we want to trust your regular eyesight.”
“I don’t need it.”
Gavin frowned. “You don’t have it with you, do you?”
“Why would I need it?”
“I don’t know, maybe because we’re here in the dark and we’re dealing with dangerous creatures that can hide from us, so…”
“Dammit, boy,” Gaspar said with a sigh.
Gavin pulled the enchantment for eyesight out of his pocket and handed it to Gaspar. “Just be careful. I don’t want you to get too dependent on it.”
/> “What will you do?”
“I’m El’aras, remember?”
“Just because you might be doesn’t mean you have the same abilities they do.”
“Maybe not,” Gavin said. “But I’m starting to recognize that I have some of their abilities. If I hold on to my power—”
He cut off as two hyadan came toward them and immediately split. He pulled on his core reserves and pushed, sending Gaspar back against the wall and forcing a sense of pressure around him. Hopefully, that was going to be enough to buy time.
Gavin jumped forward, swinging his sword with one hand and the El’aras dagger with another. He jammed both of them into two hyadan and poured power out from him.
Everything about these attacks felt off, even though Gavin could follow them. He feared making a mistake, like allowing one of the hyadan long enough to split.
He had to fight with everything within him.
And it was not just for him. What was strange to Gavin was that he now had to fight on behalf of the sorcerers within the city.
He was going to have to call on as much power as he had. He was still holding on to his core reserves, but it was different than before. Ever since coming to the city, he had started to feel more of a connection to it. Maybe that was going to be Theren’s lasting benefit.
Gavin darted forward and motioned for Imogen to come with him. They raced along the street, and he glanced back, noticing as Gaspar separated from the barrier Gavin had placed around him and climbed up onto a rooftop.
“I think you have to let me be the one to taunt him,” he said, looking over to Imogen.
“I see the appeal.” She smiled as she looked back at Gaspar.
More and more of the hyadan started to separate near them. Was this part of a trap, or was this some attempt to keep him from reaching the keystone?
Gavin lunged toward one of the creatures, stabbing it and driving it back, and he flowed through the same patterns Imogen used. As he did, he started to recognize the purpose behind it: these skills had been designed to fight the hyadan. It was a sword technique specifically designed to control and destroy the hyadan, not fight other people. It might be able to be used in that way, but there was a definite purpose to each movement.
With each hyadan that came toward him, Gavin stabbed his blade into it. Every time he did, he flowed from one to another, power filling him. He felt resistance against him each time.
Dark shadows converged upon him.
“Keep moving toward the keystone,” Gaspar’s voice said in his ear. “There’re a dozen of them up there.”
“A dozen?” Gavin asked.
He had no idea how they would be able to handle that many, especially given where they were, but he darted forward, trying to reach it. Even as he did, he couldn’t tell if they would be able to move fast enough.
One thought stayed with him, though. He had to find the keystone no matter what. And once he did, he had to defeat Theren.
If he could.
The dozen came toward him as he rounded a corner. Gavin flowed with the two blades, staying within the Leier techniques. He brought the sword around, thrusting it into one hyadan, jamming the dagger into the next, and then turned and forced his blade into another. He learned to ignore the shrieking.
Somewhere in the fighting, he got separated from Imogen.
He pushed out a hint of his core reserves each time he did, slamming it into the creatures. He was connected to the power, and it burst out of him. Each time he stabbed a hyadan, he felt the energy explode.
He could also still feel the pull of the enchantment drawing him forward.
Imogen was nearby. She had to be.
“Do you see her?” Gavin asked.
“Don’t worry about her,” Gaspar said. “You have another dozen coming.”
“I don’t need to know where the hyadan are, I need to get the keystone. Where are you?”
“Up ahead.”
Somehow Gaspar had managed to get in front of him.
“Keep looking for Theren,” Gavin said. “I don’t care how many hyadan are coming at me.”
“I thought you wanted me to be your eyes,” Gaspar muttered.
“I need to find Theren so I don’t die fighting these damn things.”
He braced himself. The number of hyadan was overwhelming. The darkened, humanoid figures came at him, shrieking when he stabbed them, falling and disappearing in a cloud before others surged forward. There were so many. Too many.
They came like a flood.
Thankfully, now that he knew how to do it, they weren’t terribly hard to kill, but they came with such an onslaught that Gavin could barely keep up. He was tearing through one after another, flowing through various movements and exploding power out from him. Each time he did, he could feel a tear, as if he were pushing through magic.
And maybe that was what he was doing.
These things were magical constructs, power that came from some dark sorcerer. Even if he didn’t understand the source of power or how to use anything with it, he understood the magic that existed within these creatures. He thought he could understand what it was going to take for him to defeat them for good.
He twisted, and he drove his blade into one, then turned and did the same to another. But there were too many. He’d run out of his core reserves before defeating them.
He had to call upon the power through the ring.
He stood in an empty courtyard surrounded by buildings. Two-story stone structures loomed above and cast shadows where he stood, but the hyadan lurked within them, and all around him the dark creatures swarmed
And each time he thought he had them under control, they divided.
Gavin grunted. “I’m not going to like this.”
“What aren’t you going to like?” Gaspar asked.
“I might have to do something stupid.”
“I don’t know if it’s the time quite yet,” Gaspar said.
“Do you have any other ideas?”
Gavin was beginning to grow tired. He was calling upon his core reserves, but he was doing it in a different way than he usually did, which drained him.
He took a deep breath and spun with his blade, and he stabbed hyadan after hyadan, keeping them at bay. One of them tore at his skin, causing him to cry out. He pushed a bit of power through him without meaning to, and felt the pain retreat.
As he thrust his sword into the hyadan’s face and pulled it out, he realized that what he really needed was a pair of daggers. In close fighting like this, daggers would work better than the sword.
Even so, he had to make do with what we had. He slashed, cutting into one creature after another, but they kept coming.
Darkness surrounded him, dark energy filled his vision.
Gavin jumped, flipping in the air, and landed in another clearing. The hyadan swarmed toward him again, but jumping had bought him a little time. He was closer to Theren. He could feel it.
Not close enough, though.
“Tell me Imogen is handling it better,” Gavin said.
“She’s finding this difficult,” Gaspar replied.
“Tell me where she is and I can go to her.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Gaspar said. “You have too many around you. I don’t know if bringing more to her is a smart plan. Let me find Theren. Whoever gets there first…”
Gavin grunted. Gaspar was right.
“I’m going to need help.”
“The great Gavin Lorren needs help?” Gaspar asked.
“I’m not so great when it comes to fighting these creatures,” Gavin said.
As he jabbed another, then another, he drew on power within himself and flipped into the air, landing in another clearing. It felt like he was retreating, and he realized that was exactly what it was.
He was being forced back.
“Damn,” he muttered. “They’re pushing us away from the keystone. They’re creating a ring to separate us from the others.”
“Why would they want to do that?” Gaspar asked.
Gavin jumped again and looked up the street when he landed. All of the hyadan were swarming him, doubling behind him. They were creating a barrier around the city.
“He didn’t just want to kill the sorcerers,” Gavin said. “He might need them to power the keystone.” He looked up in the distance, staring at the energy out there. “He’s using the hyadan to draw off the sorcerers’ power. I don’t know why, but he’s creating a ring around Loruv to do that. I need the Twelve to break through this and get to the keystone.”
He doubted he would be able to do this on his own.
“You don’t have to wait too much longer,” Gaspar said. “They’re coming.”
Gavin quickly surveyed the city around him as he leapt into the air again, and as he was coming to land, he realized a dozen figures were on their way toward him.
The Twelve.
“Let Imogen know I’m going to get closer to the sorcerers,” Gavin said.
“How do you intend to do that?” Gaspar asked.
“Very delicately.”
He had to hope that Imogen would tell the Twelve when he needed their help and what they would need to do, but he suspected that they already knew.
Gavin jumped, and this time he landed in the middle of the hyadan. They circled, and he called upon the power within him, worrying that he wasn’t going to be fast enough. There was resistance, power and pressure that pushed back against him.
They swarmed.
Gavin lunged, spinning around, sweeping his blade, stabbing through them, and creating enough of a clearing for him to jump again. As he flipped, he was carried forward enough to land outside the ring of hyadan.
He was close to Theren, he could feel it.
Magical pressure began to build around him. He hoped it wasn’t the sorcerers, but he didn’t even care at this point. He leapt and landed near a building.
As he was fighting, he could feel his energy fading. Gavin continued to pour that power out of him, trying to maintain his hold over it and not wanting to lose control over his core reserves, but he was all too aware that he did not have nearly enough to continue to fight.
He stumbled, and the hyadan converged on him. He pushed outward, forcing himself to his feet, sweeping his blade as rapidly as he could and drawing on all of the core reserves he could summon. Gavin was tapping into his power far more extensively than he thought safe, but if he did not, he wouldn’t be able to survive this.
The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5) Page 23