What am I missing?
Maybe it had to do with magic, but maybe it was something else.
As he neared the tavern, he started to have a sense that someone was following him. He slowed, pausing and scanning his surroundings. Dozens of storefronts lined the street. At this time of day, there weren’t all that many people out. The crowd thinned, though there were still people who shopped in these stores and traveled through this section of the city. Gavin had spent considerable time in this area and knew his way around. He had wandered through here often enough that he recognized the feel of it, not only the sights and sounds.
This section was not nearly as populated as other parts the city, and the people that lived here weren’t wealthy. Most of them worked in the various shops throughout Yoran. The residents didn’t dress as formally as those who lived in the manor houses, but they also weren’t as poor as those in the outer slums. Clothing here typically covered the wearer from head to toe and was drab, a sharp contrast to the bright colors preferred in some of the cities farther east.
Gavin leaned on one of the nearby buildings, trying to look as casual as he could without attracting any attention. He stared along the street, unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching him. There was no sign of movement, so he moved onward.
He meandered, making a point of not having any real direction to his course. He looked all around him as he did, searching for any sign of suspicious activity, but he didn’t see or hear anything. Still, the feeling stayed with him.
He passed the Roasted Dragon, moving beyond it and along the street. He’d gone another dozen paces or so when the feeling started to fade. Gavin paused and veered off, circling around and coming back to the Dragon from a different approach. When he neared it, he hesitated and waited there for a moment, but the sense continued to fade. By the time he wound toward the rear entrance of the Dragon, the feeling was gone.
He slipped along the alley leading up to the front of the building. From there, he searched for any sign of someone watching the tavern. Gavin waited for a while, but the strange sensation never returned.
He ducked in through the kitchen of the Roasted Dragon and hurried inside the mostly empty tavern. Ever since the attack a few months back, Jessica hadn’t done much to get it back up to full speed. She preferred to keep it running at a slower pace.
Jessica was a lovely woman with dark hair, a curvy figure, and full lips. He’d found the Dragon by chance, but he’d stayed because of her. Wrenlow sat near her, a notebook propped open on his lap the way that it often was. He was about ten years younger than Gavin, incredibly smart, and more of a planner than action oriented. Ink stained one cheek, and he rubbed at his temple, smearing it every so often.
The other person at the table was Gaspar, an older thief who used the Dragon as his home base. Gavin had come to know him during his time working in the city and found Gaspar to be skilled, if a little crotchety. Deep wrinkles creased his brow, and he ran one thumb along his prominent nose while looking at Gavin.
Jessica looked over to him. “Gavin. I’m glad you’re finally here. This woman needs your help.”
Gavin flicked his gaze around, settling on Wrenlow, who nodded toward a lovely young woman who sat across from them.
This was the person who wanted to hire me? She didn’t look like my typical employers.
“Come on over,” Jessica said, grinning at him.
Gavin couldn’t shake the feeling of unease. Something wasn’t quite right. It was a feeling he’d learned to trust and one that seemed to swallow him now as he approached the table.
Chapter Two
“You’re Gavin Lorren?”
Her voice was high as it trembled, and she fidgeted, twisting her fingers together. The woman had to be in her mid-twenties, with chestnut hair that hung in waves down to her shoulders. She had a deep blue traveling cloak around her, but Gavin’s eyes were drawn to the full figure not quite hidden underneath. He forced his gaze back up to meet hers and nodded.
Jessica glanced over at him, grinning again. The owner of the Dragon was a beautiful, slightly older woman who’d welcomed Gavin to the tavern—and to her bed. “This is Gavin. I told you I would get him back here.”
“I’m so glad that you returned. They weren’t sure when you’d come back.”
He shot a look over to Gaspar, but the old thief was staring at the hearth, almost making a point of ignoring him. He scrubbed a hand through his short gray hair in an expression of irritation. Gavin frowned. He’d missed something.
Imogen stood at the back of the tavern, quiet as usual while cleaning her sword. Gaspar’s partner was a slight woman, whip thin, and had a dark air of mystery to her. Her narrow sword sheathed at her side was just within reach. Maybe she and Gaspar could do this job without Gavin. She traced a pattern along the blade, almost as if she were adding writing to it. Gavin studied her for longer than he should, trying to figure out why she worked so studiously at the blade.
“I’m Gavin Lorren,” he said. “And you are?”
“I am Erica Delmonica.”
“You’re looking to hire me?” Gavin wouldn’t expect someone like her to hire him. His normal employers were more the sort of men like Gaspar.
Erica nodded, looking from face to face nervously. “I heard you were incredibly skilled. I’ve been asking around to see who to hire, and everyone kept saying your name.”
“I’m sure they weren’t,” Gavin said. The idea that somebody might be sharing his name throughout the city was almost as troubling as Jessica trying to drum up business for him.
She’d remarked on the fact that he hadn’t been taking jobs, but he’d turned most down because he wasn’t entirely sure what jobs he should be taking. Ever since the attack on the Dragon, ever since he’d been trying to better understand what he could do, Gavin hadn’t been sure whether or not he could even take another job without drawing the wrong kind of attention here again.
“Only the people who know,” she whispered. “It’s not as if I was able to get your name from everyone. Most people don’t seem to believe you exist. That tells me you’re definitely the right person for the job.”
“What job is it?”
“I need you to find someone for me,” she said.
“Just find them?”
He looked over to Gaspar again, and this time the old thief watched him, something hiding in his gaze.
Maybe uncertainty? Or something else…
“Just find him,” she said. “Why? Do you do other things?”
“Gavin is known as something of a skilled fighter,” Jessica said.
“Well…” Erica said, then stopped.
Maybe she wanted an assassin, but she didn’t have the typical appearance of someone looking to hire one. For that matter, Gavin rarely encountered anyone in the Dragon who had a job for him. Stranger still was Jessica’s eagerness to help this woman.
“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“It might be dangerous. The person I need you to find has been taken from me. It’s my son.”
“Your son.” He regarded her for a moment. “How old is he?”
“You’re going to take the job?”
“I didn’t say that, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t. I need more information before I decide.”
“He’s ten. He was taken from me.”
Ten?
Gavin had a hard time believing that this woman had a son who was ten years old, but it wasn’t impossible. “Where is he?”
“Isn’t finding that out what you do?” she asked.
“If you want to hire me, you’re going to have to give me a little more information.”
“It’s complicated.”
“How?” Gavin asked.
“Because of where he went. I think… well, I might as well go on and say it. He’s been taken by somebody with power. I don’t really know where they took him, only that they left a marker behind. I don’t think they meant to, but I suspect he kicked it free.” She rea
ched into her pocket, pulled a coin out, and slid it across the table to him. It was made of silver, and etched on the surface was a strange symbol, a series of triangles surrounded by a circle. “I found this. I don’t really know what it means, but whoever is responsible left it behind.”
“Why would somebody want to take your son?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “That’s what I can’t get over. There wouldn’t be any reason for anyone to take him.”
“Why do you think you need somebody like me? The constables could help you.”
“I went to the constables, and as soon as they saw that marker, they wanted nothing to do with the job.”
Gavin frowned. If she had gone to the constables, their refusal to help her said volumes about this job. It meant there was something there, whether Gavin wanted anything to do with it or not.
“We’ll look into it,” Gaspar said.
“You will?” She turned toward him, and smiled widely. “I knew it. I knew I’d come to the right place. Everybody had been pointing me toward Gavin Lorren, and they said his team could find my son. I’m so thankful that I was brought here. To you.”
Gavin stared at her. His heart hammered, the strange sensation from heading through the street still troubling him. He pushed the feeling away but knew he needed to be careful, to trust his instinct. Right now, his instinct was telling him to pay attention to whatever he’d experienced before—and not so much to this woman.
“What can you tell us about him?” Jessica asked.
“He’s going to be scared. He won’t know what’s going on, and he’ll be afraid. Not that I could blame him. I’d be afraid too. I can’t imagine what he’s going through right now. I can’t imagine that he…” Gavin trailed off as Erica leaned down, rubbing her eyes while tears streamed down her face.
Gaspar slid over and patted her on the shoulder. He whispered something in her ear that Gavin couldn’t hear.
“Why did you bring me in on this?” Gavin whispered to Jessica.
“What would you have me do? She came in, talking about a son, and she said she needed you. Somehow, she’d heard your name somewhere. I thought you’d be willing to help.”
“Why would I be willing to help? This isn’t the kind of thing I do.”
“You’ve not been doing anything. Other than sitting around here and sniping at Gaspar. I figured you needed to do something else.”
Gavin sniffed. He hadn’t been sniping at anyone, least of all the old thief. “Now you’re trying to find jobs for me?”
“You aren’t finding the jobs, so I thought perhaps—”
Gavin let out a frustrated sigh. It did no good. Jessica ignored him, turning her attention back to the woman.
“What are you willing to pay?” he asked.
Erica’s eyes widened. “Pay?”
“If you want me to take the job. What will you pay?”
She looked from Gavin to Gaspar and then back to Jessica, a look of confusion on her face. “I didn’t realize I was going to have to pay. I thought…” She forced a smile, then frowned as she rubbed a knuckle in her eye. “I suppose… well, I suppose I could pay. What is it that you normally charge for something like this?”
“I haven’t taken a whole lot of jobs like this. Most of the jobs I take are a bit different.”
“Different how?”
Jessica and Gaspar both shook their heads slightly. Gavin breathed out.
Am I really going to start taking jobs searching for missing children?
He looked from Gaspar to Jessica as he leaned forward. They both watched, though Gaspar seemed more concerned than he let on. “We can work out payment later.”
“Oh, good,” she said, breathing out heavily. “I just want to get him back.”
“What else can you tell us about him that might be helpful?” Gavin asked.
“Or anything you can remember about the men who took him,” Gaspar added.
“I didn’t see them. It was dark. Late. They broke into our home and took him. I thought it was the constables at first, but they wouldn’t do anything like that, would they?”
Gavin’s recent experience with the constables suggested that maybe there was something to her hunch. Perhaps he should’ve paid more attention to what they were doing.
He frowned. “I don’t think the constables would, but anything is possible.”
Gaspar shot him an annoyed look. “I think what Gavin means to say is that we don’t know the constables well enough to make that determination.”
“That’s what I figured,” she said. “It’s difficult to believe they would’ve done anything like that, but I don’t even know. I thought their job was to protect us.”
“It is,” Gaspar said.
Gavin leaned back. He knew what Jessica wanted and understood why. She wanted him to have something to do, a sense of purpose. He thought he wanted the same thing, but would he really be able to find that sense of purpose while struggling with what he’d learned about himself—and about Tristan?
He didn’t know.
“Gaspar will get the rest of the details.” Gavin got up, pushed away from the table, and headed to the back of the room.
Gaspar shook his head slightly, annoyance flashing in his eyes. Jessica frowned but he ignored it.
Wrenlow was there, watching. “What is it?”
“I don’t like this,” Gavin said.
“I gathered that, but why?”
“I don’t really know. It’s just an instinct.”
“Does that instinct have anything to do with the fact that Jessica found a job for you?”
“It’s the type of job she found for me.” And he thought it was it was more than that, though maybe it was about his hesitation in staying in Yoran.
“Finding this child is beneath you?”
Gavin arched a brow at him. “When have I ever thought anything was beneath me?”
“Well, that’s true enough,” Wrenlow said, chuckling.
“Think about one of the first jobs you and I ever did. When we took the job to protect Liesl Daemon from attack.”
“We didn’t know that was going to be as minor as it was.”
Gavin snorted. “Seeing as how she was drunk when she came to us, we probably should have.”
“Her husband was also drunk when you knocked him out.”
“That’s probably what saved his life,” Gavin said.
“I doubt he would’ve attacked you had he not been drunk. Or me.” A look of irritation flashed in Wrenlow’s eyes that Gavin couldn’t quite decipher.
“Maybe.”
“They can’t all be like the job in Kevlin.”
“Oh, you mean the one that I failed?”
“You removed him from power. That’s not a failure.” Wrenlow grinned at him. “Sometimes, I think you have a different opinion about what you need to do than most people.”
“That’s not what I have. My issue is that my training has been of a particular kind. I know that training should be used for—”
“Helping people,” Wrenlow said. “That’s what you’ve always told me. And how you helped me.”
Gavin shook his head. “I can only imagine what Tristan might think if he learned about my priorities.”
“Does it matter?”
Gavin frowned. “I suppose it doesn’t.”
“It just strikes me as strange, that’s all.”
“That I’m objecting here?”
“That when it comes to something like this, something so objectively good, you’re pushing back.”
Gavin looked over to where Gaspar, Jessica, and Erica were talking quietly.
Could that be my issue?
Maybe his training had changed so much for him that he was unable to take a job that felt good. If so, that was a twisted fate.
“Maybe that’s all it is,” he whispered.
“I’m sure it is,” Wrenlow said, nodding as if that had decided everything. “Anyway, now that you’ve got that taken care of,
why don’t you tell me why you went out to the forest again.”
“For some quiet.”
Wrenlow started to laugh. “I’ve never known you to go anywhere for quiet.”
“Fine. I went out there to see if there was anything more I can uncover about the sorcerer.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve never faced anyone like him before.”
He had encountered plenty of sorcerers, though none quite like this one. There was something different. Dangerous. He didn’t really know what it was, only that he had never even heard of the man. Either the Sorcerers’ Society had hidden his presence, or they didn’t know of him. That might be even more dangerous.
“There are a lot of sorcerers you’ve never faced before,” Wrenlow said.
“There are, but this one came looking for me. And he didn’t have any trouble finding me either.”
“That bothers you.”
“It should bother you too.”
“I don’t know that it should. I’m not nearly as troubled by things as you are.”
He leaned back and closed his eyes. Perhaps it really was nothing more than the nature of the job, but maybe it was that he had been beaten, trained, and taught that the kinds of jobs that he needed to take had to be a specific kind.
These days, most of his jobs had been smaller scale than what he had been trained for. As long as they paid, it didn’t matter. Lingering in the city had bothered him for a while, but he hadn’t revealed it to Wrenlow. Eventually, it would be time for them to think about moving on.
They had gotten comfortable within the city, but comfort meant complacency. Gavin knew far better than to become complacent. Those who did later ended up dead.
“I need to look for Tristan,” Gavin whispered.
“What if he tries to find you?”
Gavin shook his head. “He wouldn’t.”
He remembered returning to the training compound, finding the trail of blood, the body trapped in the ravine. He had seen the clothing, the boots, even the ring, all pointing to Tristan.
Now, years later, Gavin knew that Tristan had faked his death.
The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3 Page 29
