Gavin pushed that power through him and into the enchantments. All of them surged. Strangely, symbols formed in his mind. El’aras symbols.
The creature shrieked.
Power was there, and he let it flow—but there was a limit to it. He had used enough already—maybe too much—but, for now, he let energy flow outward. It struck the enchantment, and the enchantment struck the smoke creature.
Gavin could practically see a barrier form. Rather than pouring out of multiple enchantments, it poured out of only one of them, flowing from him to the smoke creature. The barrier wrapped around the smoke creature, trapping it. The creature shrieked, rising within that barrier, and Gavin struggled to keep his hand firm. Everything within him trembled as he tried to maintain his grip, holding on to the power within him, knowing the energy was still there.
His strength started to wane, but he refused to let go of it.
Gavin cried out. Power flowed from him, and weakness began to overwhelm him. He was using too much of his core reserves. Too much of the magic within him. If only he had some way to call upon more.
Fatigue dropped him to his knees, and he looked up. He was so close to the fortress, but if he drew the creatures in, the enchanters would be in danger. The creature shrieked at him, the massive mouth of smoke stretched open and wide, looking as if it were trying to consume him.
Gavin ignored it. Power continued to flow, and then it swallowed the smoke creature, pulling it down into the enchantment.
He sank down, dropping to his hands and knees. He took a gasping breath. There was no further sign of the smoke creature. It was gone.
“What was that?”
Gavin looked up. When had Davel arrived?
“What was what?” Gavin asked, dragging himself to his feet. He could barely stand, and it took everything within him to try to focus on keeping his eyes open.
“Where did you get the sorcerer’s trap?”
Gavin looked at the enchantment. “What?”
“The sorcerer’s trap. Where did you get it?”
Gavin shrugged. “I don’t know.” It was too much to answer now. He could barely think. He needed to rest. “This one was harder to trap than the others.”
“I saw it. I felt the power.”
“You felt it?” Gavin asked, smiling.
Davel shook his head. “Not like that.” He slipped an arm around Gavin’s shoulders, helping him to his feet. “I have ways of detecting magic.”
“I know you do. I was there when you made one of them,” Gavin said.
He looked past Davel, and he made out several of the constables arranged in a line nearby. Gavin surveyed them, noting their swords and looking for signs of enchantments, but he didn’t see anything.
“Where’s Wrenlow?” Gavin asked.
“Your friend? He sent word, but he said he was going to watch from a different vantage.”
“Where is he?” Gavin took a deep breath, tapped on the enchantment, and called out, “Wrenlow?”
There was silence.
Why had Wrenlow suddenly gone silent on me again?
“He’s fine,” Davel said.
“I’ll believe it when I see him,” Gavin said.
“Fine. You can be my guest.”
Davel nodded toward the street, and several of the constables disappeared. It wasn’t long before they returned, Wrenlow with them. Wrenlow glanced in Gavin’s direction, his brow furrowed. All this time, Wrenlow had wanted more excitement, but Gavin suspected he never really intended to come out into the city. Certainly not when there were dangerous sorcerers involved. Hopefully, Olivia had provided him with an enchantment or two that would offer him levels of protection. But if not…
Gavin hurried toward the end of the wall surrounding the Captain’s house where Wrenlow stood.
“I think it’s something around here. Something is interfering with the enchantment,” Wrenlow said.
“Either the smoke creatures or the Fate.”
“I suppose, though it might be something else,” Wrenlow said. He looked over at Davel. “I found the constables… Where’s Gaspar?”
Davel looked over at Gavin sharply. “Gaspar is with you? “Why did he bring you here?”
“I thought it was because we were going to warn the enchanters of the danger of the smoke creatures.”
“They came here?” Davel asked, looking up at the Captain’s fortress.
“They figured he owed them for what he took from them.”
Davel’s eyes narrowed. Gavin wondered how he would react to that news.
“Why would you want to warn them?” he asked.
“Because of what I learned at your barracks. I think the smoke creatures feed on magic.”
“I’ve already told you—”
Gavin sighed, shaking his head. “I know what you told me, but I also know what I saw. And I know what I felt.” He ignored the way that Davel looked at him. There was a question in his eyes, but it was a question Gavin wasn’t going to answer, not now. As he looked past Davel, he shrugged. “Anyway, Gaspar left. For whatever reason, he decided to abandon me.”
“He didn’t abandon you,” a voice said from nearby.
Gavin turned. Gaspar was stepping through what appeared to be a solid section of the wall. Not a wall at all, but an enchantment.
“Gaspar,” Davel said, nodding to him.
“Davel Chan,” Gaspar said. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “What are you doing here?” he asked Davel, then shot Gavin a look that was ignored.
“We received word we were needed,” Davel replied.
“Really. And what would make you think that?”
“Your friend,” Davel said, glancing at Gavin and smiling, “ran into a little bit of trouble. It’s not the first time he’s involved us.”
“I’m all too aware of that,” Gaspar said.
“Yes, well, being that as it is, we came to offer whatever help we could. You know how we feel about magic in the city.”
He needed the constables and enchanters to find peace.
Gavin would have to be the one to force the issue.
He turned, then sagged and nearly collapsed. He tried to stay on his feet, attempting to keep moving, but he couldn’t. Not easily. As much as he wanted to, he could feel the weakness within him and how the energy was fading from him.
He looked over at Gaspar. “Don’t be fighting over me.”
“What?” Gaspar asked.
“Don’t be fighting over me,” he muttered. “Find a way to hold this damn thing.” He held out the enchantment the smoke creature was in.
With that, Gavin collapsed.
Chapter Nineteen
When Gavin awoke, everything was dark around him. He listened for a moment.
Something throbbed within him, and it took a moment to realize it was his head. He got up, and everything started to spin. There was enough light for him to make out some details around him. The dresser across the room looked like a hazy shadow. There was a window, though the blinds were closed, and the curtains were pulled mostly shut. He moved carefully so that he didn’t kick and spill the washbasin on the table near him.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and he looked around the room. He expected to be in the Dragon, but he realized this wasn’t it. He should have noticed that the window was a little bit off, the angle of sunlight coming in casting faint bands of light along the floor in ways that his window at the Dragon never did.
“Easy,” Wrenlow said.
“Where are we?”
“The enchanters put you up in the fortress. From what I’ve heard, they placed enchantments around it to protect themselves from the Fate—and the smoke creatures.”
“Hopefully, that will work better than the ones the constables used on the barracks.” He breathed out slowly. “How long was I out?”
After having used that much of his core reserves, Gavin worried. One of the things that Tristan had loved about him was his willingness to push
beyond where he should have, to fight beyond the point of sensibility, and to overwhelm weakness within him.
“As far as I can tell, the better part of three hours.”
Three hours. Not so long.
“Why?” Wrenlow asked.
“When I’ve spent myself like that, I’ve slept for days.”
“I’ve never known you to sleep for days,” Wrenlow said.
“It’s been a while.” Gavin tensed every muscle, releasing each one slowly. It was his way of testing and preparing for anything.
Wrenlow rested his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t get up. At least, don’t get up too quickly. What happened there? Davel said you were doing something,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin leaned forward, ignoring the throbbing in his head and pushing it away. He checked and realized he was still wearing the enchantments. The one for increased strength and speed was there, as was the magical barrier.
Taking a deep breath, he started to stand.
“I’m going to be fine,” Gavin said.
“I’m sure. I’ve never seen you really hurt.”
Gavin shrugged. “I’ve been hurt.”
“Like I said, I’m sure. I’ve just never seen it.”
When he stood, Gavin stayed still. It took a moment, but he gathered himself and pushed back the pain, dizziness, and everything else. Three hours of rest was enough to replenish his core of energy.
His magic.
As much as he was giving Gaspar a hard time about the enchanter abilities he thought the constables had, he had to deal with his own magical ability. The core reserves of strength he possessed were tied to something else. Gavin didn’t know exactly what it was or how he could use it, only that what he had was more than just simply strength.
Gavin hovered there for a moment, wobbling in place, and took a few steps.
“Easy,” Wrenlow said.
“I’m fine.” Gavin took another step, then he stumbled.
Wrenlow slipped his arm underneath Gavin’s and lifted him. He started to steer him back toward the bed.
Gavin shook his head. “Not yet. This isn’t over.”
“You can’t fight in this condition,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin chuckled. “Most of the time when I fight, I’m in this condition.”
“You look like you’ve been beaten up.”
“Do I?”
“Not much from the bruising or anything like that, it’s just that you have this hollow expression in your eyes,” Wrenlow said. “And… I don’t know how to describe it. You just look like you’ve been beaten.”
“I feel like it too,” Gavin said.
He took a deep breath and then tapped into his core reserves again. It was dangerous to do so this soon after waking, but he needed to gather energy and strength and figure out how to fight off the Fates and the smoke creatures.
When he stabilized himself, he took another deep breath and then held his hands up. He’d strengthened himself, but there had been a cost. “I’m fine.”
“What did you just do?” Wrenlow asked. “I felt something. It was like a tingling along my skin.” He held out an enchantment, though this was different than any enchantment that Gavin had seen from him before. Probably something new from Olivia or one of the other enchanters. Obviously, something that detected magic.
“I didn’t really do anything. I just tapped into my core reserves.”
“Ah.”
“Don’t say it like that,” Gavin said.
“Say it like what? You were borrowing from the strength within you.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t even question what that strength is from?” Wrenlow asked.
“I realize where it’s from.”
“Do you?”
“I do well enough,” Gavin said and headed toward the door of the room.
He glanced back at Wrenlow. His friend watched him, his eyes flicking from one spot to another. He was worried.
“I still don’t know what to make of all of it,” Gavin said, starting slowly. Wrenlow glanced over to him. “If this is all El’aras, I don’t know how I’m going to control it.”
Wrenlow watched him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Gavin smiled tightly, appreciating Wrenlow and his concern for him. He was a real friend and had been from the moment they’d met. “About how I’m El’aras? I don’t even know what happened to my parents. I have flashes of memory. Fire. Screams.” Gavin squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t know how much of it is from when they were lost.” Gavin was sure that they were lost, though Tristan had never talked to him about it. He had said there was no point in doing so. He had said that he needed to move on, and that Tristan would help. “I was brought to Tristan’s facility, where I was trained.”
“I know,” Wrenlow said.
“I just wish I knew why.” He looked up, meeting his friend’s eyes. “There has to be more of a reason. He taught me how to access that part of me. He made me something more than just a skilled fighter.”
And Gavin was. His training with Tristan had taught him various fighting styles, techniques he could call upon when it came down to survival.
It was more than that, though. Gavin wouldn’t have been able to become the Chain Breaker had he not. As he thought about it, he had to believe Tristan had known. And if he had, then what had Tristan hoped to accomplish?
Gavin looked into an expansive room. He recognized it from his last time through here, and knew it was on the main level. Tables occupied much of it, with chairs all around. There were several hearths along the walls, all of them crackling with warm flames that put out heat. A gentle smoke drifted into the room, and Gavin breathed it in, welcoming that aroma. In addition to the smell of smoke, there was a hint of incense and spice, along with a few more exotic aromas that he couldn’t quite place.
Tristan would be disappointed that he couldn’t recall the various smells around him. He had always wanted Gavin to be able to identify smells to detect any threat within them. Here, with the enchanters, the constables, and people he would otherwise consider friends, he didn’t think there were any dangers. Perhaps that was a mistake.
Gaspar sat at a table, talking quietly with Zella.
In one corner, there were three constables. Two of them stood with hands clasped in front of them, and Davel sat at a table, his gaze surveying everything around him.
Gavin waited.
Wrenlow pressed up behind him. “Are you going to go in?”
“In a minute,” Gavin said.
“They’ve been doing that.”
“They’ve been doing what?”
“Watching each other,” Wrenlow said, stepping forward. He nodded toward the constables. “You can see them in one corner, but there are two others over there,” he said, motioning to the opposite corner.
Gavin looked to where Wrenlow pointed. Two more constables stood in the corner. They didn’t make any movement, but Gavin had little doubt that they were some of the most enchanted of the constables.
“Then there are the enchanters,” Wrenlow continued. “There are several different groupings, and all of them seem to be casual. But the longer they’re watched, the less it seems that they are as casual as they want everyone to believe.”
“Everybody’s sizing each other up,” Gavin said.
“That was my thought too.”
“Everybody other than Gaspar,” Gavin said, nodding to the old thief.
“He’s been talking to her for most of the time he’s been here.”
“Do you know what he’s talking about?”
“No,” Wrenlow said. “Gaspar won’t let me get close enough to listen. I think he knows I’m trying to overhear him, and he’s keeping his voice down.”
“He probably has an enchantment that prevents you from hearing him too,” Gavin said.
“When he was at the Dragon, Gaspar never carried enchantments with him.”
“That we know of. It’s possible that he’s had enchantments all
along.”
Gavin glanced over at Davel, nodding to him before sauntering through the room.
Zella looked up as Gavin joined them, and she smiled at him tightly. “You were the reason we moved, and now you’ve brought this upon us.”
“It’s nice to see you again too,” Gavin said. “If you find that enchanted memory necklace, I still get paid.”
She shook her head. “It’s been recovered.” When he held his hand out, she shook her head. “What do you think you’re doing here? It’s not about the necklace.”
“I’ll tell you once I have the necklace. I took the job. I’m going to complete it.”
Zella glowered at him a moment and seemed to realize he wouldn’t change his mind. She headed to the far side of the room, digging into a drawer, before coming back to him and holding out a simple silver necklace with a circular charm hanging from it. Gavin stuffed it into his pocket.
“Now. Tell me what you’re doing here.”
Gavin looked over at Gaspar. “I sort of thought Gaspar would’ve filled you in by now.”
“Gaspar has shared some of what’s going on, but I find it difficult to know just how much of it to believe. It seems a bit fantastical, if you ask me.”
“Which part? The Fate coming to visit? Seeing as how you were there when they came, I would think you believed that part of it.”
“Not the Fate,” she said.
“Then the smoke creatures,” Gavin said. “I’ll admit that it’s a bit strange, but it is what it is.” He’d learned practicality from Tristan as well. He’d never seen anything like the smoke creatures before, but he knew he had to deal with them. “That’s why Gaspar and I were coming here until we were attacked.”
She leaned forward, locking eyes with him. “You wanted to bring them here?”
“Not exactly. From what I can tell, the creatures chase those with magical abilities.”
“How do you know that?” Zella asked.
Gavin glanced over at the constables. “Because they chased me. And they attacked the constables.”
Zella grinned.
“See?” Gaspar said.
“I do see,” she agreed.
Gavin looked at Gaspar. “You told her.”
“I told her, mostly because I can’t believe it would even be possible,” Gaspar said.
The Fates of Yoran (The Chain Breaker Book 3) Page 19