He had to find some way past all of this. He needed to keep pushing, fighting.
He needed to use the power of the ring.
He attempted to access its power, but failed. The ring evaded him even now, when his life was on the line.
The hyadan continued to swarm him, and Gavin summoned a hint of his core reserves, then jumped, spinning out of the way.
When he touched down, a dark shadow came toward him.
Chapter Twenty-One
The steady pulsing from the enchantment had intensified, and during the fighting, Gavin had lost track of it, had stopped paying attention to it the way he should have. Now he realized that the signal was close.
Too close.
Gavin readied his blade and spun, turning to meet Theren.
“This is unexpected,” Theren said. “I’m honestly impressed by you.”
He darted forward, swinging his sword around. Gavin swept his own weapon toward Theren, preparing for the possibility that he may not be strong enough or fast enough, but now that he was drawing upon the power of his core reserves, he could feel something fighting back, some energy and part of him that was able to withstand him.
Theren chuckled. “It seems I underestimated you.”
“You made a mistake,” Gavin said. “You should have destroyed me when you had the opportunity.”
“When do you think I would have had the chance?”
Gavin glared at him. “Give me the keystone.”
“It’s not going to make it that easy for you. It has worked far better than I would’ve expected. Once we make more of them, we will destroy the power of sorcery.” He grinned at Gavin. “You want to bring down the sorcerers as much as I do.”
Gavin shook his head. “I don’t know if anybody wants to eliminate them as much as you do.”
“The others of my kind want to. And if you were of my kind, then…”
Theren lunged at him, his sword a blur. He was calling on the power of the El’aras, using it in a way Gavin could not even follow.
Gavin threw his fist out in a punch and tried to keep up with Theren, drawing on his core reserves and filling himself with power. Then he switched to the fighting style of the Leier—one he didn’t think Theren would know.
Theren wouldn’t have Gavin’s training, wouldn’t have been forced to master fighting styles with a single exposure, not the way Gavin had under Tristan’s harsh mentorship. It was that training and understanding that filled him as he worked through a style even he barely knew.
He darted forward and caught Theren’s blade, and began to push him back.
“Where are the stones you stole?” Gavin asked.
“I placed them in a way so that they will feed off of this place. Do you know what will happen once they do?”
“I have a good idea,” Gavin said.
Theren started to laugh. “I’m sure you do. Once they feed, they’ll continue to spread. And seeing as how this is a place of power, since the Sorcerer’s Society has chosen to make this their home, the creatures will have plenty to consume. That energy will spread outward, destroying all with magic.”
“Including the El’aras.”
“No,” Theren said. “I have the keystone. Then my people will lead once more. The way it should have remained. The world was better then. Simpler.”
A blur streaked past him, then another.
Gavin remembered that Theren wasn’t the only El’aras here.
Theren chuckled. “Soon, the El’aras will finally reclaim what is ours. The families will unite, as they will have no choice in the matter.”
“Not all of the families feel the way you do.”
“If they don’t, they will be destroyed,” he said with a sneer.
How had Gavin ever thought he had a friendly nature to him?
This was a man filled with darkness and hatred, a man who wanted nothing more than to punish. But he was also a man Gavin thought he knew how to handle. He’d dealt with others like that before. He could defeat him.
But he had to deal with the other El’aras first.
Gavin took a deep breath, clearing his mind, concentrating on what Tristan had taught him about mastering the various fighting styles. He needed to use the El’aras style now. What was it but another technique?
He summoned power within him, felt the way his core reserves focused. He turned in place, sweeping the blade around. He kept the three El’aras away from him, but that many would be formidable. Especially since Gavin suspected they were all greatly skilled swordsmen.
But Gavin wasn’t a swordsman.
He was a fighter.
If he could take away their weapons, then Gavin would have an advantage. He doubted that the El’aras trained in the same fighting styles he did. All he needed to do was separate them from their blades.
One of the El’aras blurred toward him, streaking in a way that Gavin could scarcely follow, but he brought his sword around, chopping it down toward the El’aras’s arm. His first attempt missed, but his second strike did not. He brought his knee up and connected in the man’s side. Gavin spun and grabbed the attacker by the wrist and brought his other arm down quickly while twisting. He kept his sword up so the other two couldn’t get to him. The El’aras’s wrist cracked, and he dropped his sword. Gavin brought his open hand down in a slicing manner toward the man’s temple, dropping him to the ground.
There were two left, including Theren.
Gavin didn’t know how many more there might be, but suspected Theren wouldn’t have thought he needed many.
“You thought the three of you could handle me?” Gavin asked. He watched Theren, who sneered again. “You know who I am,” he said, looking to the other El’aras man. “I’m sure he told you my name. You know what I can do, so you should know you don’t want to fight me.”
“Arrogance,” Theren said. “So common with your kind.”
“I am your kind,” Gavin spat back.
Theren darted forward, his blade whipping, but it was a pattern Gavin recognized. Gavin called upon the power within him, and energy flowed up from someplace deep inside. He spun to one side, bringing his blade away from Theren, toward the other El’aras.
He drew on the energy within the ring as well, connecting with the man. Gavin trapped the El’aras’s arm between him, and he brought his fist up underneath the man’s chin, swung his leg behind him, and caught him in the back.
The combination twisted the El’aras, who coughed, his head twisting rapidly to the side. Gavin released him, turning to face Theren.
“Now it’s just us.”
“You made a mistake,” Theren said.
“No. You did. You decided to bring this kind of attack at me. You thought you might be able to sway me to your side.” Gavin had started to think about the conversation he’d had with Theren, how the El’aras had tried to manipulate him, but Theren obviously didn’t know him well enough. He didn’t know that Gavin viewed sorcery in a different way.
Gavin recognized that not all sorcerers were dark and dangerous, just as not all were good. There seemed to be equal numbers of both, much like it appeared to be the case with the El’aras.
“It’s already begun,” Theren said.
He surged forward and lunged at Gavin, twisting his blade rapidly and piercing Gavin in the side. Theren spun, bringing his free hand out, catching him in the shoulder.
Gavin tumbled away. His side ached, but he ignored it, pushing that pain down. What had Anna said to him before? The El’aras learned how to handle pain, but in a different way than Gavin had. He had been trained by Tristan, and he did not fear pain. He recognized it as something necessary and essential.
He pushed off, drawing on the power of his core reserves, using that energy to jump into the air. He spun and kicked, landing a strike on Theren’s shoulder. Theren twisted backward and sliced his blade toward Gavin, who ducked and followed the Leier technique. Theren darted to one side, lunging away from him, but Gavin tracked his movements.
He kicked again, and Theren smiled. The El’aras brought his blade up, and Gavin recognized what he was doing—the same thing he’d done in the chamber below the city.
Power began to build from Theren, and Gavin called on his own power and pushed outward.
“When you fall here, remember what’s happening elsewhere,” Theren said, smirking.
A burst of blue energy exploded from him. Gavin braced himself, holding his hands out to try to block the power from reaching him, but he could not. The power and control Theren used was too much.
It threw Gavin back, and he landed on his backside. As he struggled to get up, he looked around, but didn’t see Theren. He pulled out the enchantment, squeezing it. It was vibrating, pulsing, but it was doing so in a steadily decreasing speed and frequency.
Theren was moving away.
But there were still stones around him that were making hyadan. Stones that were designed to destroy.
And he still had not seen the Toral.
Either they were not here, or they had simply not felt the need to show themselves. Given how Theren had handled Gavin all too easily, it was probably the latter.
He staggered along the street, sweeping his gaze around, trying to find the energy within him to fight again. He was already starting to fade, and he feared what would happen if the hyadan surged at him. Gavin would fight, and he would draw on everything he could, but he was prepared for the possibility that he wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
He might die.
“What happened?” Gaspar said, his voice coming through the enchantment.
“Where were you?” Gavin asked.
“I’ve been hollering in your ear for the last ten minutes,” Gaspar said. “You haven’t been acknowledging me.”
Gavin grunted. “It seems like Theren has more control over his power than I realize.”
“You found him?”
“Found him. Faced him. Lost,” Gavin muttered.
“You lost?”
“He ran, so maybe I didn’t lose?” He shrugged and looked around. There was a darkness moving, and the flood of hyadan out there. “We need to keep going. He set the stones around the city. Can’t chase him until we clear them out.”
“Imogen can help with that,” Gaspar said.
“I need her here.”
“Then look up, boy.”
Gavin glanced up and saw Imogen backing her way toward him, sword a blur. As she fought and stabbed one after another in their mouths, the awful shrieks followed her. It was impressive how quickly she could fight, but she was getting overwhelmed.
He darted forward, joining her. After stabbing several of the hyadan, clearing some space, he looked over. “Do you have some way of finding the stones?”
“The enchantment works for them as well. I can key into them, but I’ll need time.”
“I can give you time,” Gavin said.
“You’ll have to destroy the stones. We were never able to do that before.”
She ran off.
Gavin continued flowing through motions, bringing the sword around and stabbing the hyadan. They were swarming him, pushing him back. Each time he brought one down, another took its place. They were duplicating.
All he needed was to find the keystone, and then they could end this. But they still had to destroy all the hyadan.
“Get over there!” Gaspar shouted in his ear.
“Where?”
“Follow the damn enchantment, boy.”
Gavin focused on the tapping sound, and though he hadn’t felt it before, he now recognized where it was coming from: a different enchantment in his pocket that Olivia had given him. She hadn’t even told him it was a way of communicating. He raced along the street in the direction Imogen had gone, and he hurried toward where he suspected he could find her.
She was standing on her toes, examining a black stone embedded into the wall.
“Here,” she said, stabbing each hyadan trying to keep her from getting to the stone. “Get working.”
Gavin raised up on his toes too, and he pressed the dagger to the stone. He started pushing power out from him and exploded the energy into the stone. There was resistance, the same way there had been before.
He needed to push even more. Somehow, he was going to have to call on the power from the ring. It had failed him while he tried to fight Theren, but Gavin needed it now.
He had to welcome it to him. Wasn’t that what Anna had told him?
Her lessons came to him, filling his mind with what she had tried to teach him, even though he didn’t know if he had the necessary knowledge to utilize them.
The ring started to vibrate, reminding him of how Anna’s marker did. That comforted him, and for a moment, he relaxed.
He knew that calm was going to be crucial, and that if he could find a way to let the power of the ring come to him, then he might be able to use it.
Slowly, energy bubbled within him. And then he pushed it out through the ring and into the stone.
The stone shattered.
A hyadan had escaped prior to him destroying the stone, and Imogen stabbed it.
She looked over to him. “I’ll find the next one. Stay ready.”
Gavin turned his attention back to the street, and when the hyadan converged on him, he kept fighting. He didn’t have any choice in the matter. Each time he stabbed one of the creatures, another replaced it.
“Move,” Gaspar said.
As before, Gavin focused on the vibration, and he followed until he found Imogen stabbing another hyadan.
Gavin jammed his dagger down into the stone while a creature was coming out, and poured power out of him in an uncontrolled manner. There came an explosion, and when it cleared, the stone was gone.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can do,” he said.
“We must destroy the stones, since they’re feeding,” Imogen said. “They have already become too powerful. This is the only way.”
He got to his feet, channeling his core reserves. This time, he wasn’t calling on the magic so much as he was calling on the energy he needed, the way he’d once used it when fighting. He had to keep going.
Gavin nodded to Imogen. She darted off, and it wasn’t long before she summoned him again. This time, the stone was in the wall near the center of the city, and he pushed power out from him. He could distantly feel Theren moving away. He’d have to figure out where he went later. For now, they had to save the city.
Imogen raced away again, and Gavin sagged for a moment, until the hyadan converged on him. He was called again, and he followed her voice. When he caught up to her, he found her in front of the stone, killing the hyadan coming out of it.
“How are they able to escape so quickly?” Gavin said.
“They’re feeding,” she replied. “And they’re being directed.”
Gavin stabbed the stone. It exploded, fragments piling up on the cobblestones.
He wobbled for a moment. Imogen fought off a couple of creatures while he recovered. He had to call upon his core reserves again, but that wasn’t going to be enough.
“I don’t feel many more,” she said.
“Many?”
That meant some still remained.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out the bottle of sh’rasn powder, and quickly downed it. As he did, energy started to flow back into him. He wouldn’t have much time with that.
“Go,” he said.
Imogen watched him, concern written in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. She ran off toward the hyadan.
He stumbled after her, until he called on more power, letting that energy fill him. Even as he did, he started to wonder if he could find enough strength.
All of this to stop this darkness?
If he didn’t do it, no one else would be able to.
Gavin stabbed a hyadan, then another, and he spun, fighting through the creatures as they pressed in on them. By taking the sh’rasn powder, he could draw on more strength, but
he was growing tired. A fatigue worked through him, a bone-weary type of exhaustion that came from the energy he was using to access his magic. He might not have the strength to finish this.
He found Imogen and did not hesitate before jamming his El’aras dagger into the stone and shattering it. He stumbled, landing on his backside.
Imogen stood over him, fighting the hyadan that attacked.
“Bring me to the next one,” he said, voice starting to fade.
She frowned, looking down at him. “I don’t feel any more.”
“None?”
She shook her head. “No more.”
He took a deep breath. “Then give me a hand up. I can help you.”
“You’ve done enough. Rest.”
“I can’t rest. Not until this is over,” Gavin said.
“Rest,” she insisted.
He tried to get up, but could not. Imogen darted away, and the hyadan were drawn away with her. Gavin slumped on the ground, leaning against a low stone wall. He could feel some power around him, the flickering energy, and looked up to see sorcerers coming out of one of the buildings.
They were dressed in the maroon robes of the Sorcerer’s Society. One of them was tall and slender, with an arrogance to him that Gavin immediately disliked, but he had to push that feeling away. The other was younger, youthful in a way that reminded him of Char, the healing sorcerer he had met in Nelar.
Gavin scrambled to his feet, moving toward Imogen.
“The sorcerers are coming,” he said.
“Good,” she said. “They might be able to take care of the rest of them. With the stones destroyed, they won’t be able to feed anymore.”
“Then… we should… go,” he said.
He wobbled down a gentle slope and reached a collection of hyadan. Gavin began to slash at them, his strength waning.
Others appeared, joining him in the fight. The Twelve.
They pushed through the creatures, blasting through them, creating an opening around Gavin. He stumbled, and when he fell, one of the dark creatures loomed over him. He rolled over, preparing to drive his dagger upward, but he didn’t need to. One of the Twelve was there and stabbed the hyadan, which shrieked as it disappeared.
The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5) Page 24