The Chain Breaker: Books 1-3

by Holmberg, D. K.

  What else had she seen?

  “Come on,” he said, motioning to the others. “It’s time for us to get out of here.”

  “What did she do?” Jessica whispered.

  “I don’t know. She’s a sorcerer, and one of considerable power.”

  “I thought the Dragon was protected.”

  “There’s only so much that can be done to protect against a truly powerful sorcerer,” Gavin said.

  He grabbed Alex, and it was a wonder the young girl didn’t resist. She went along with Gavin, and Imogen helped lead Jessica out of the room, down the stairs, and into the main part of the tavern.

  Gaspar stood and stared, saying nothing.

  The tavern was empty. Everything was in disarray. Tables were turned on their sides, and Jessica worked quickly through the tavern, tipping them back up and placing the benches and stools where they belonged. A few bloodstains pooled on the ground, though not so many that they couldn’t be scrubbed up. The air hung with a strange odor, a mixture of sweat, blood, and something he couldn’t quite place.

  “What was that?” Jessica asked, taking a seat at a table. “Who was that?”

  Imogen went to the kitchen and brought back a mug of ale, which she placed in front of Jessica.

  Gavin shook his head. “As far as I know, she was the one who hired us, but I thought she wanted us to find him—her,” he said, nodding to Alex. “Now, I’m not so sure. It seems to me like she’s more interested in killing Alex.”

  “Why? Who is she?”

  Alex raised her head and haunted eyes met Gavin’s for the first time. “She is the Mistress of Vines,” Alex said. “She is life. And she is death.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  The inside of the Dragon was still in complete disarray, though Jessica had gone to work trying to get the tavern back together, organizing chairs and tables, letting Gavin and Gaspar move bodies far enough away from the Dragon that the constables wouldn’t come here to question them. It still didn’t feel like enough.

  It was empty, which was not altogether surprising at this time of night. There was just the small grouping of them at one table. Gaspar sat off to one side near Imogen, Wrenlow sorted through his stack of pages, and Alex sat next to Jessica, who seemed to be trying to console the young girl.

  “We need to know more about the Mistress of Vines,” Gavin said. He looked over at Alex and tried to hold her attention, but she looked away.

  “I’ve heard of the Mistress of Vines,” Gaspar said.

  “When?”

  “Before,” he said.

  The tension between them lingered. Gavin knew Gaspar didn’t care for the idea that he’d learned Gaspar had once been a constable, but why would that even be an issue? It didn’t matter now. Gaspar was something else. He had become something else. He’d continued to grow and change and evolve. Like all men had to.

  “Who is she?” Gavin asked.

  “Someone who shouldn’t be in Yoran,” Gaspar said. “Back when the war was going on, the Sorcerers’ Society called to her for help. She didn’t answer.”

  “Because she’s powerful.” Gavin looked over at Alex. “What I want to know is what she wants to do with you.”

  “They’re trying to take me,” Alex whispered.

  “Who is?”

  “They are. I just want to go back with my family. That’s all.”

  Something about this didn’t feel right to Gavin. The steady blows he’d felt when Alex had attacked had been significant, but there was something off. It hadn’t been a sorcerer’s magic. “You’re an enchanter, aren’t you?”

  She nodded slowly. “I don’t have much skill. What I have isn’t that useful.”

  Gavin chuckled. “I think you’re wrong there. And your family?” She shook her head, as if to say they were gone. “You were taken from them by the Captain?”

  “I was taken, but…”

  “But what?”

  “I don’t really know what happened to them,” she said.

  A part of him went out to her. As strange as it was, he understood what she had gone through. When he was younger, there had been many who’d been brought in by Tristan, presumably to be safer, and he had trained them. Gavin wasn’t the only one.

  All of them had come from some place of sorrow. All of them had been freed from the life that they had known. And all of them had been introduced to something far more dangerous.

  “Did the Captain tell you what he expected of you?” Gavin asked.

  “He didn’t expect anything.”

  “He would’ve expected something. They all do.”

  Gaspar looked over, frowning at Gavin for a long moment.

  “What now?” Jessica said.

  “Now… now I don’t know,” Gavin said. “We now have an enchantress—or sorceress—angry at us. We now have to deal with the danger of the Captain. And somehow we have to figure out what to do with her.” He tilted his head toward Alex.

  “You don’t have to do anything with me,” she said.

  “We have to do something. We can’t let you leave until I’ve neutralized the Mistress of Vines,” Gavin said.

  “I don’t need you to protect me.”

  The El’aras dagger rested on Gavin’s lap, and it started to glow again. He looked over, smiling at her. “You’ve just proven my point.”

  “What did I prove?”

  “You can’t go using your magic around the city like that.”

  “Why? Are you afraid they’re going to catch me?”

  “The constables will catch you,” Gaspar said softly. “They’re trained to find those who use magic. The constables are skilled at it. They have enchantments that allow them to pursue that power and to deflect magic that’s used on them.”

  Gavin had a sense from the old thief that there was something within what he said that troubled him.

  “In order to keep her safe, we have to figure out what we’re going to do. We could return her to the Captain”—Gavin looked over, and he could tell from Alex’s face that she didn’t want that—“or we keep her safe.”

  “We have to keep her safe,” Gaspar said.

  “There may be a way to do so,” Wrenlow said.

  “How?”

  “Well, think about that other job you were offered.”

  Gavin frowned. “The egg?”

  “Right. The other job. There were other enchanters. Isn’t that what he said?”

  It’s possible that we might be able to hide her there, but even if we did, is that necessarily safe?

  He didn’t know. Alex was still too young to be off on her own, and unless she had somebody to protect her, they weren’t going to be able to ensure her safety.

  “What about your family?” Gavin asked.

  “My family is gone,” Alex said.

  “What happened to them?”

  She looked over, holding his gaze, and she shook her head. “They’re gone.”

  “What does that mean?” Wrenlow asked.

  Gavin glanced over and shook his head slightly. “Don’t.”

  “What? If her family is gone, then we can find them. I mean, I have resources within the city I can use and leverage to do that. I’m sure Gaspar, having been in the city as long as he has, has resources as well. Between the two of us, we should be able to find what happened to her family. Even if they were removed.”

  “Don’t,” Gavin whispered.

  “Gavin—”

  “They’re gone, kid,” Gaspar said, leaning forward. His voice was harsh and rough, and he glared at Wrenlow.

  Wrenlow didn’t seem to take the hint, and he ignored it.

  Gavin sighed. “Were you there when it happened?”

  “No. Well, I heard it.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What did she hear?” Wrenlow asked.

  Jessica stood and tapped Wrenlow on the arm. “Why don’t you help me in the kitchen and gather some food and drinks. I think the rest of the crew is needing to visit.”

/>   “I suppose. I still want to know what she’s talking about.”

  Jessica gave him an annoyed look, and she flashed a smile at Alex before guiding Wrenlow away.

  “I’m sorry about him,” Gavin said. “He doesn’t always see what’s obvious.”

  “And he provides your intelligence?” Alex asked.

  “He’s smart, but it doesn’t mean he’s smart.”

  “Sounds like the two of you are quite the pair,” Gaspar said.

  “Careful,” Gavin said.

  “Or what? You’re going to continue to harass me?”

  Alex laughed softly. “What happens if she comes back?”

  “Seeing as how we stopped her for a little while, we don’t have to worry about that just yet.”

  Though Gavin doubted they would have much longer.

  “What I don’t really understand is why she would’ve needed me to get you out of the Captain’s fortress,” he said. “As powerful as she was, I would’ve expected that she’d have been able to rescue you herself.”

  “It wouldn’t have been a rescue,” Gaspar said.

  “Fine. Not rescue, but break her out. Why did she need us?”

  “There are protections around the fortress,” Alex said.

  “You were aware of them?”

  “The Captain warned me. He told me I wasn’t going to be able to do much there. He said it would get better.”

  “That your magic would get stronger? More controlled?”

  Alex shook her head. “I don’t really know.”

  Gavin leaned back, crossing his hands in front of him while thinking. The man had enchantments, that much Gavin was certain of. The Captain’s indestructible nature suggested that those enchantments were powerful and that somebody was creating them for him.

  “What else can you tell us about your time there?” Gaspar asked.

  “I was only there for a few days. They fed me, and then he had people working with me.”

  Gaspar frowned. “What do you mean they were working with you?”

  “They were testing me. I think he was trying to see how much I knew.”

  Troubling. There had to be a reason she’d been brought there, and a reason the Captain knew about her. None of this made any sense to him.

  Jessica came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food and drinks, which she set on the table in front of them.

  Gavin got up and tapped Gaspar’s shoulder. “I need a word.”

  Gaspar joined him, and they headed to a table in the back corner of the tavern.

  “Something about this isn’t adding up,” Gavin said.

  “It’s about time you saw that.”

  “Have you been able to figure out what’s going on?”

  “No, but I share your concern,” Gaspar said.

  “What do you think it is?”

  Gaspar looked over to where Alex sat quietly at the table. “I don’t know. You said she was powerful when she attacked you?”

  Gavin nodded. “That was controlled magic, Gaspar. I don’t know how much experience you had with that in your previous occupation, but this was someone who was in control of what they were doing. I had to use every bit of focus I had to withstand it.”

  “Are you sure it was your focus that helped you?” Gaspar asked.

  “What else would it have been?”

  “You know you have other potential.”

  “Let’s not go into that now,” Gavin said.

  “Are you afraid to?”

  “I’m not afraid to get into it, but I think we have a more pressing matter at hand.”

  “And I think they’re connected,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin took a deep breath. “Possibly.” He couldn’t deny that there might be something more taking place. “If so, we still need to know what they intended.”

  “In that, we agree.” Gaspar frowned. “Your friend does have a good idea though.”

  “Which is?”

  “This other job you were offered. This Zella,” he said, frowning again as he did. “I can’t help but think that we might be able to borrow some information from that job.”

  “Borrow?” Gavin asked.

  “Perhaps that’s not the right word, but we might be able to find this group of enchanters and uncover more about the Mistress of Vines,” Gaspar said.

  “It sounds to me like we know all that we need to about her.”

  “Are you sure about that? She almost single-handedly took down all of us. Think about what she was able to do to you. You, a man trained to fight and control himself, someone who has the ability to handle all sorts of different dangerous scenarios, was nearly overpowered by this Mistress of Vines.”

  “She surprised me,” Gavin said. He hated admitting it, but it was true that she’d surprised him and nearly overwhelmed him, though he wasn’t going to tell Gaspar that.

  “Of course she did. She’s powerful.”

  Gavin breathed out slowly. “It won’t happen again.”

  “I hope not.”

  He glanced over at Gaspar. “So are we going to find this group of enchanters?” He looked around the tavern, locking eyes with Wrenlow for a moment before he turned his attention back to his notebook and began writing.

  “It sounds like it,” Gaspar said.

  “Good. I need the coin,” Gavin said.

  Gaspar looked over, his expression darkening. “What?”

  Gavin shrugged. “The job would pay an additional third when I find Zella.”

  “If she’s there, you need to be cautious. We don’t know anything about this jade egg.”

  With everything else that had been going on so far, Gavin knew better than to get locked up in another job. Alex had been enough of one, and now that he had another…

  He sighed. “That’s where we need to start. Find the egg. Find the enchanters. Help Alex.”

  Gaspar clenched his jaw. “You might be right.”

  “You don’t have to sound like it hurts you to say it.”

  “It does hurt to say it. I don’t like the idea of you being right. Been right too much these days,” Gaspar growled.

  Gavin smiled at him. A rare compliment from Gaspar. “You know, I am right more often than I’m wrong.”

  “I find that hard to believe,” Gaspar said.

  “I think you want to work with me more than you’re letting on.”

  “See? Now you’re just proving how often you’re wrong.”

  Gavin chuckled as he shook his head. “Where do we start?”

  Gaspar sighed. “As much as it pains me, I feel like we need to go back to Desarra.”

  “Why Desarra? Because she was the one who got us the plans to the Captain’s fortress?”

  “That… and another reason.”

  “What other reason?” Gavin asked.

  “I’m not going to share everything with you, boy.” Gaspar left him and headed over to the table.

  Jessica wandered over and joined him. “Thank you,” she said.

  “What for?”

  “For protecting me.”

  “You knew I would,” Gavin said.

  “And for protecting her.”

  “Why wouldn’t I have protected her?”

  She smiled. “You could have let this Mistress of Vines take her.”

  “You know I couldn’t have,” Gavin said. “I don’t really know what to make of all of this, but I’m not much of a fan of people with magic tossing it around and harming those without. I’ve had a few experiences with magic users.”

  “More than just Yoran?”

  Gavin nodded. “More than just Yoran.”

  “I figured. You handled the El’aras attack much better than anyone else would have. I guessed that you had some experience.”

  “Unfortunately. More than what I would’ve liked.”

  “What has it involved?”

  “Mostly it’s involved trying to keep from drawing notice.”

  “It’s been more than that,” she said.

  �
��Before I came to Yoran, and really before I even partnered with Wrenlow, I spent time wandering, which brought me to other places. Yoran isn’t alone in banishing magic, though they do a better job than most cities. There are still places that welcome magic. They embrace it. Most of them aren’t even all that far from the city. Places where they use magic to protect their people—and where they use magic to rule.”

  “You have experience with it.”

  Gavin shook his head. “I’ve tried to stay away from those places. The man who trained me warned me against spending too much time there. They were dangerous. Not just to outsiders, but to people trained like me.” Now that he’d started to wonder about the nature of his abilities, he had to question whether Tristan had known about his potential for magic and if that was the reason he’d been warned to stay away.

  “Have any of your jobs dealt with magic like this?” Jessica asked.

  “You mean like my most recent jobs have?”

  “I suppose so.”

  Gavin shook his head. “Not many. Well, there was one, but it didn’t go so well.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

  “Let’s just say that I didn’t complete the mission.”

  “No?” Jessica started to smile. “What exactly happened?”

  “I was hired to take out a dangerous ruler. I didn’t finish the job.”

  “So they’re still in charge?”

  “No. Thankfully, I at least pushed them out of the city, but there’s always the risk that they might return.” He frowned. “I don’t like it when I can’t finish the job.”

  “What about what’s happening here?”

  Gavin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t like having jobs that are incomplete. Even when they deal with magic.” He glanced over at Alex. “She beat me, you know.”

  Jessica chuckled. “Are you sure it was her?”

  Gavin shrugged. “At the time, I thought it was, but now having seen this Mistress of Vines attack, I’m not even sure anymore. Maybe it wasn’t Alex.”

  “I can’t imagine what that’s like,” she said.

  “It’s not as bad as you’d think. There are some uses of magic that are quite outstanding. Think of all the enchantments you have. I don’t know much about what Yoran was like before all of that was banished, but I can imagine there were plenty of enchantments that allowed power and amazing things to happen.”