The Fates of Yoran (The Chain Breaker Book 3)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Gavin continued sweeping his gaze along the street, looking for evidence of the person who’d been following him, but he found nothing. Either they had disappeared, which he thought unlikely…

  Or they were hiding from him.

  Gavin ducked forward, keeping his head down and blending into the crowd. He looked for any hint of the dark cloak, the slight limp, anything to clue him in. He didn’t see any sign of them, though they had to be there.

  He looped around, making his way back toward the Dragon. The route was otherwise quiet. There were people out on the street, as there often were, but nobody caught his attention the way the last person had.

  Gavin glanced to the rooftops. He wouldn’t put it past somebody to scale one of the nearby roofs, hide there, and observe him, but he saw no sign of anybody atop them.

  He passed two constables patrolling, and though he glanced in their direction, they didn’t pay him much attention either. Neither of the constables had a limp, so he didn’t think his pursuer was one of them.

  Who was it, then?

  He continued making his way along the streets, passing a series of storefronts and warehouses. Gavin looked over them, wondering if perhaps Gaspar might have other places that he had targeted for search. Frustration built within him as he meandered, passing a series of cottages near the edge of the city. Maybe it was just his lack of focus, not knowing what he was after, but increasingly it felt as if it were a lack of purpose.

  At the end of the street near the Dragon, he caught sight of the dark cloak in the distance. He watched closely for a moment.

  Is it the same person?

  No limp this time. The height didn’t seem quite right.

  Gavin darted forward. He reached the Dragon at the end of the street, but they were gone. Gavin spun, looking behind him at the way he came, and still saw no sign of his pursuer.

  Something caught his eye near the main entrance to the Dragon—a couple walking toward the tavern. They were younger, the man with long rust-colored hair and a scruff of a beard, and the woman with pale skin and auburn hair. Gavin moved forward and raised his hand, waving his finger at them. They both shot him a look of annoyance, which he ignored.

  He grabbed a folded slip of paper attached to the tavern's door beneath the carving of the dragon’s head. It had his name on it.

  Odd that somebody would leave a note like this.

  He looked around for his pursuer but saw no sign of them, so he unfolded the note and skimmed it.

  All of that for a job? Why not just approach me directly and hire me?

  He certainly had a reputation in the city, so it wouldn’t be altogether surprising that somebody would be afraid to approach him in the open. It might be easier—and generally safer—to come at him indirectly like this.

  The details of the job were strange, though. It looked more like a thieving kind of job, the kind of thing that he would’ve expected Gaspar to take, though Gavin would never say that.

  Given the dearth of jobs they had recently, he figured that perhaps it made sense for him to take it. Besides, at the bottom of the page was a symbol for gold, along with the number five.

  It was just enough that he couldn’t turn it down. Of course not. That would be enough to make sure that he had a good start if he had to leave the city. Not that he didn’t have enough funds. He had forced Davel to pay handsomely for the last job, and Gavin didn’t even feel any guilt in doing so. It offered him a measure of freedom. Besides, he had completed the job, even if it wasn’t the way Davel intended.

  If nothing else, having a job that paid well would at least let him feel useful in a way that he hadn’t lately. He didn’t need to take Gaspar’s jobs, and he didn’t need to depend on Wrenlow or Jessica to find jobs for him. He could get them on his own, however mysterious this one might be.

  He folded up the slip of paper and stuffed it into his pocket. Though he’d been offered the job on his own, that didn’t mean he’d do it on his own. When Wrenlow returned, he could look into it to make sure it was safe for Gavin to complete. As safe as necessary, that was. When it came down to it, no job was necessarily safe.

  He pushed open the door, took a deep breath of the familiar scent of the Dragon, and immediately tensed.

  It shouldn’t have felt familiar. It shouldn’t have felt comfortable. It shouldn’t have felt safe.

  Comfort breeds complacency.

  It was long past time for Gavin to move past complacency.

  Chapter Three

  Gavin fingered the slip of paper that had been attached to the door of the Dragon, his mind working through the job that had been left for him. He still had no idea if he would even wanted to take the job, but he tried to think back to the last time that he had come up with an assignment on his own, and the only thing that came to him was what Davel had asked of him when he had come to Gavin to find the jade egg.

  Could it really have been that long?

  It seemed impossible that had been that long ago, but at the same time, Gavin hadn’t been actively pursuing new assignments. That had been a mistake.

  Partly that was Gavin’s fault. He hadn’t been as motivated to pursue other assignments. Not in Yoran, at least. He had been used here. Now it felt as if he were biding his time while looking for information about Tristan, though Wrenlow had failed to uncover any details about Gavin’s old mentor. That didn’t surprise Gavin all that much. How could it? Tristan had trained him, which meant that he would likely be able to hide from Gavin for as long as he wanted to. He had certainly managed to hide the truth about his death from Gavin.

  Gavin had waited at the Dragon for Wrenlow to return, but he’d been gone when he’d gotten up in the morning. He didn’t want to wait any longer to find out more details about the job, and his curiosity had been piqued.

  He fingered the note again, tempted to bring it out and read it. It shouldn’t be so easy to find him or to direct others to him. It had not been like that in any other place that Gavin had visited, spending any amount of time. Only, in Yoran, he had become easy to find. And what was worse, no one feared finding him the way that they once would have.

  He debated tapping on the enchantment, whispering something to Wrenlow and letting him know where he was going, before deciding against it. Wrenlow was preoccupied. He had gone off with Olivia, and he certainly didn’t need Gavin interfering with that.

  He was alone.

  It was the way that he preferred it, so why did he feel unsettled?

  It was this place. It was Yoran. It was everything that he had gone through since coming here. All of that had worked to keep him in the city and had plotted to force him to take action that he had not intended. All of that had turned him into this hesitant person.

  He didn’t know the address the note had directed him to, but he had spent enough time in the city that he didn’t feel like he needed somebody to guide him. It was on the city's northern edge, near a row of small cottages, the homes small, cozy, and some of them with smoke drifting from chimneys. They were different than the large brick homes found toward the center of the city, or the towering brightly painted wooden manor homes along the western edge. He found Jesser Street as the note directed, and then the intersection with Ihnar Street.

  It would be near here.

  He fingered the hilt of his dagger, tracing his hand along the El’aras markings on it.

  This could be a trap.

  There had certainly been enough of them, after all, but the letter had been detailed enough that he didn’t think so.

  He paused on the far side of the street, his gaze sweeping along the cottages, and tried to look as nonchalant as possible with the occasional person who meandered along the street. A dirt brown dog prowled along the far side of the street, and Gavin noticed it chasing a gray cat. When the dog got close, the cat spun and hissed, swiping at the dog before it yowled and darted away.

  Gavin snorted.

  It wasn’t busy here. There were no shops, nothing to draw peopl
e here unless they lived in this part of the city. Anyone here had a reason to eye him with suspicion. His cloak would only draw even more attention, as with the sword sheathed at his side.

  It was daylight, which didn’t fit Gavin’s mood any better, either. He didn’t care for operating like this in the daylight. Actions like this were better taken in the dark. Meeting with employers was better done in the darkness.

  At least, that had always been his preference in the past.

  He counted down the row of cottages until he came to the one where he was supposed to meet his potential employer. A small basket of yellow daisies was set in a windowsill, the only coloration on that building or others surrounding it.

  That was the place.

  Gavin strode across the street, focusing on his core reserves and reflexively reviewing various fighting styles that he might need to use.

  He raised his hand to knock when the door opened.

  The face that greeted him was older, graying hair, and with dull blue eyes. She was a good head shorter than him, and he had no sense of a threat from her.

  That didn’t mean that she wouldn’t pose one.

  Gavin had too much experience with others who were nonthreatening to believe that she would be completely innocent.

  “Are you him?” She spoke in a creaky sort of voice, and she touched her neck, squeezing the gray dress she wore.

  “This was you?” Gavin pulled the letter out of his pocket, and he held it out. This was not what he had expected, and certainly not the kind of employer Gavin was accustomed to.

  The woman’s gaze flickered to the letter and then to Gavin. She seemed to regard him, and something in her dull blue eyes suggested reluctance. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to come. She told me that I could ask you, but I didn’t know if it was dangerous to ask an outsider for something like this.”

  Gavin glanced along the street, but no others were moving. It was as if the street had emptied the moment that he had come to this home.

  “You want to talk here, or would you prefer meeting somewhere else?”

  “I gave you my address. I’m not afraid of you finding me.”

  Gavin started to smile before catching himself. “Did she tell you what I do?” Gavin held out the note, and his gaze drifted along the surface for just a moment until he came to the letter Z. There was only one person that could have sent this woman to him with that initial.

  The only problem was Gavin hadn’t expected Zella to send anyone his way.

  “She told me that you can find things.” She gripped her neck again, and she looked up, meeting Gavin’s eyes. There was a fearlessness there, which surprised him.

  “Occasionally. That’s not all that I do, though.”

  “But you can find things?”

  Gavin tried to look past her but didn’t see anything in the small cottage that worried him. Not that he really expected to have found anything.

  “I can find things, but it would be helpful to know why you need me for this.”

  “Well, she said that her ability to track this kind of item is limited.”

  “Is that right?”

  Zella was a skilled enchanter, and she led the other enchanters in the city. The last time Gavin had dealt with her, he had threatened her and her people because they had been responsible for bringing the Mistress of Vines into the city.

  Why would she send this woman to me for help?

  “What kind of item is it?”

  This time, the woman did look along the street. When she turned her attention back to him, she leaned close. She smelled musty. “The kind that had been forbidden.”

  “An enchantment,” Gavin said.

  Her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I wouldn’t go looking for it, but I understand that the situation in the city has changed. This item is of value to me.”

  “Why is that?”

  “It was given to me by someone special to me years ago, and I lost it in the war.”

  Gavin stared at her, keeping his face neutral.

  Is that what I am to become? A finder of things?

  He had thought it was bad enough before when he had been looking for people, but this was another level altogether. Here he thought that Gaspar had been using him for his magical ability, and he had, but Zella intended to use him for another reason altogether.

  It was almost enough to make him refuse.

  Almost.

  He had been bored, if anything, and having an opportunity to put some of his skills to use—however mildly they might be necessary—seemed as if it provided him an opportunity that he had been lacking. Besides, this might prove an interesting distraction for a little while.

  “Tell me what you’re missing and what the enchantment does.”

  “Does it matter what it does?”

  “It matters if I am to return it to you.”

  “Do you really think you can get it?”

  Gavin shrugged. “I have no idea. It would help to know what you are after, and what it does, so that I can know what I might need to do.”

  “I don’t know that it will be all that difficult for you to find. I know where the item is. It’s the getting to it that’s the challenge.”

  “What do you mean getting to it?”

  “She told me that you have a connection to him and that you might be able to use that.”

  “To him?” Irritation started to bubble within Gavin, and he thought that he understood what this woman, and what Zella, were after.

  “Why, the Captain, of course. The necklace is precious to me. It was given to me many years ago, and if I could get it back—”

  “No.”

  “You won’t do this? She said that he owed you a debt and that it would be a simple matter for you to ask it of him.”

  Gavin wasn’t so sure that the Captain owed him a debt as it was that Gavin had threatened him, and after having saved his life, he didn’t fear the Captain coming after him. But he also didn’t like the idea that he would be used for this connection, especially not in such a strange way and for somebody he knew nothing about.

  “You still haven’t told me anything about this enchantment.”

  “I’ve told you that it is precious to me. I’ve told you that I lost it years ago, during the war, and—”

  “You told me about the necklace, but you haven’t told me what the enchantment itself does.”

  The woman nodded slowly. “Of course. It is a memory.”

  Gavin frowned at her. He had dealt with many enchantments over the years, but more so lately. And in that time, he couldn’t claim that he had dealt with any sort of memory enchantment. The idea that there would be one that could be used in such a way left him somewhat surprised. Perhaps he shouldn’t be surprised that sorcerers, and enchanters, had many different abilities and uses of magic. Why should he be surprised that they would have one for memory, as well?

  “It holds memories, you see. It’s precious to me because of the memories that it holds.” She looked up at Gavin. “I stored them there, not wanting to lose them, but I lost him anyway.”

  “What’s the memory?”

  “My son.”

  Gavin clenched his jaw. “Are you sure the Captain has this necklace?”

  The woman nodded. “I’m sure. I petitioned him years ago, but he ignored me. He accumulated all enchantments back then and has stored them, keeping them from their rightful owners.”

  “Are you sure the enchantment hasn’t faded?”

  “It’s possible. But unless he has accessed it repeatedly, I think it would be unlikely. I just want to have those memories one more time…”

  Gavin sighed. “I will see what I can do.”

  “The timing is urgent,” the woman said. “He has started to move enchantments out of the city. I need you to get it before he takes it where I can’t find it again. I don’t know what I’d do then.”

  Gavin frowned. “What do you mean that he is moving enchantments out of the city?”

 
; “I would have assumed you had heard. Zella told me. They have been aware of it and have been trying to prevent him from moving too many of the enchantments, but…”

  Gavin was of half a mind to tap on his enchantment and speak to Gaspar, if he would answer. Could that be why he had wanted Gavin’s involvement in the last job?

  No. If Gaspar had known that the Captain had been moving enchantments out of the city, he would’ve said something.

  Which meant that Gaspar didn’t know.

  He had known about the enchantments, though.

  “I will see what I can do.” He held out the note. “Five gold coins. As agreed.”

  The woman nodded her head quickly. “Of course.”

  He looked at the cottage. It was small. Quaint. And he doubted that the woman had five gold coins. If she did, it would probably be the sum of her entire savings.

  Gavin started to back away when the woman called after him.

  “Is that it?”

  Gavin shrugged. “For now. I’ll let you know what I uncover.”

  He crossed the street, and when he glanced back, the woman was still standing in the doorway, watching him.

  He was less concerned about finding a necklace, though he couldn’t deny that a woman and her memories of her son pulled at his heartstrings. That was likely the intent. He was more concerned that the Captain moved enchantments out of the city. Here Gavin had thought to neutralize him, at least somewhat. If he were solidifying wealth, then there was a real danger that the Captain might become a different kind of a threat.

  It meant that Gavin needed to pay him a visit.

  But he wanted to be prepared first.

  Maybe with enchantments, though he hadn’t necessarily needed enchantments to defeat the Captain the last time. What would be more effective, though, would be information. He needed to understand what was going on.

  He tapped on his enchantment as he strode along the street, rounding a corner, and found the crowd picking up as he entered a part of the city with more shops.

  “Wrenlow. I’m going to need your help.”

  There was silence, and it lasted for a little while.