The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  He looked to the door.

  There was something off.

  Not just the darkness around him, but the nature of it. The way it spread, circling the door. And he began to understand what it was, why it was coming.

  The hyadan were attacking.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Gavin jumped to his feet and unsheathed his sword. He called upon his core reserves. The rest had increased his strength and the blade blazed with a blue light that illuminated the room.

  There were three creatures across from him, dark power swirling around them. Gavin focused, trying to figure out which one of them was the lead one.

  One of the hyadan divided.

  “There you are,” he said.

  Gavin lunged, aiming for the mouth. The hyadan gave a muted shriek as the sword struck.

  He drove his blade forward again and connected with another hyadan, which shrieked as well. Gavin pushed power out from himself, borrowing from the core reserves and sending magic out through him. He jumped and forced his sword toward another one, jamming the blade into its mouth.

  Gavin spun, sweeping the blade around, and he thought about what he had seen from Imogen. Her fighting style must’ve been effective against the creatures, and though he didn’t know her style well, he could borrow enough from it. He lunged and connected with the next.

  The hyadan were multiplying, but what if it wasn’t coming from inside the room?

  The area was too small for the sword, so Gavin switched to his El’aras dagger. He didn’t have to sweep through such sharp movements as he would with the sword, but it also gave the creatures an easier time getting to him.

  They had him circled now. Gavin thrust toward one, dropping and driving the blade up. Each time he came close to the hyadan, they let out an awful sound. He stabbed again, and then he connected. This time, the hyadan shrieked even louder than before. The sound was unbearable.

  Everything around him seemed to fall still.

  With the room emptied, and he pulled the door open. Three more creatures waited in the hallway. The only way he could see them was through the glow of his El’aras dagger. Were it not for that, Gavin wouldn’t have been able to get to them in time. He still held on to his sword in his other hand, pushing out his core reserves from it. He could feel the energy slipping away, something that seemed to flow out from him, even though he didn’t dare push too hard. He didn’t want to lose control over that power.

  If he had more control over the ring, he might have used it. As it was, he certainly was not going to try using it in a space like this, where he might destroy the entire structure around him were he to lose control.

  He pushed his core reserves through the dagger, blasting into the hyadan’s mouth.

  One of the doors nearby opened, and Gaspar looked out.

  “Close the damn door!” Gavin shouted, and Gaspar jerked it closed.

  Gavin twisted and jammed at one with the dagger. Another hyadan came toward him, and he shoved the sword in its mouth.

  Where was Imogen? She had the keystone. There was no reason that the hyadan should have attacked unless Ruhid had already released them.

  Or, Gavin realized, somebody had gotten to Imogen, taken the stone, and reactivated it.

  He kicked off of one of the walls, spinning and flipping, and drove the El’aras sword outward. He connected with another hyadan, and he pushed power out through him from his core reserves, and Gavin found he needed to tap into something more.

  He hesitated, still not wanting to draw on the ring, but what choice did he have? There was too much power here, more than what he could withstand. He had to be careful, to react, and to remove the hyadan as a threat. Which meant he was going to have to use what he had.

  Gavin focused, trying to keep his mind stable, knowing that in order for him to harness the energy of the ring, he was going to need to draw upon it safely and effectively. He would have to keep his concentration so that he could ensure he used it the right way.

  He tried to think of everything he knew about the ring, all of the power that existed within it. Slowly, that understanding flowed out from him, out of the ring, and energy exploded.

  He strode forward. There were no more hyadan and no stones.

  Where were they?

  Gavin had destroyed three of the creatures, but he would’ve expected their stone remnants to remain. He started searching. The hyadan stone had to be here. Until he found that, he couldn’t be confident that he had destroyed all of the these.

  Something moved nearby.

  He was not alone. There was something else in the hall with him. He braced himself, expecting another attack. He spun at a shadow and swung his blade, pushing some of his core reserves into it. The sword glowed brighter, and energy coursed out of the blade, into the area around him. As he tried to send that energy outward, he could definitely feel something else.

  A blur of movement.

  Gavin focused and felt his vision shift. It was what he had done when he’d faced the El’aras in the forest, and what he had needed to do when he had sparred with Theren.

  Everything started to slow enough that Gavin could make out the details within it.

  El’aras.

  Gavin almost lost his focus. Why were they here?

  There should be no reason for them to be in Loruv. They were far enough removed from what Gavin believed to be the El’aras lands. If only he had Wrenlow to ask.

  This had to have been Ruhid’s secret assistance.

  Given what Gavin knew about the El’aras he had confronted in the forest outside of Yoran, these might even be the same ones. The El’aras who had a Toral among them. And dark power. Why would they want the hyadan?

  He tried not to think about that. For now, he needed to stay alive. He focused on the El’aras in front of him. He had darker hair. Cleaner features. And he was fast. Impossibly fast.

  Gavin debated which weapon to use, sword or dagger. At the same time, maybe neither would matter. He was skilled with both, but he was even more skilled with hand-to-hand combat.

  And the El’aras was coming at him too quickly.

  There was a hint of darkness around the man as he lunged. Gavin twisted to the side, swinging his arm down, trying to connect. The El’aras blurred past him and rolled, coming back around and facing him. The attacker crouched down, one hand resting on the ground waiting for Gavin to move.

  Gavin darted forward.

  The El’aras leapt at him and twisted. Gavin ducked, but the man clawed at him, raking his nails across Gavin’s back. Gavin winced, going to the ground and popping back to his feet. He spun around and reached outward, grabbing for the El’aras.

  He missed. His opponent was too fast.

  Gavin jumped forward, and the El’aras connected, joining him in midair. They crashed into each other.

  Gavin had been calling on the core reserves, but then he used something different. This time, he focused on the power in the ring. As he used that power and darted forward, he could feel that energy filling him, and it exploded outward through him.

  He rolled on the ground and brought his fist down into a sharp jab, connecting with the El’aras’s throat. As the man dropped to the ground, Gavin jumped off to the side and twisted.

  It was just in time.

  There was another attacker.

  What’s going on here?

  Reddish hair streaked towards Gavin. He spun, trying to connect with the man’s arm. The El’aras was too quick. And here Gavin had thought that Theren was Anna’s most potent warrior.

  This one jumped and flipped in midair, but it was a technique Gavin recognized. There weren’t too many fighters who could twist in that fashion.

  Did Tristan train them?

  Gavin pushed that thought away. He jumped, using the walls around him. If the El’aras were going to use the ceiling, Gavin was going to use his own techniques. He bounced off one wall, kicking and driving forward, and he brought his fist down in a chop that connected with
something.

  As the El’aras crumpled to the ground, Gavin caught the man’s neck with his legs and cracked it with a wrenching motion.

  He jumped back to his feet, looking around, ready for the next attack.

  It was quiet.

  The door nearby opened again, and Gaspar poked his head out into the hall. “Dammit, boy,” he mumbled.

  ‘“What’s going on?” Gavin asked. “What are the El’aras doing here?” They had to be from one of the other families. Gavin tapped on his enchantment. “Anna?”’

  There was nothing.

  In the time they had been gone, Gavin hadn’t spoken to Anna or Wrenlow, though he wondered if that was a mistake. Maybe he should have been keeping up with them, letting them know what was going on.

  “Anna, if you’re there, we need to talk about the El’aras,” he said into the enchantment. “Something is going on here, and I don’t know what it is. There have been several attacks like this now, and I feel like we need to get a better sense of all of this.”

  There was still nothing but silence. The enchantments around the city probably kept him from reaching her—or from reaching Wrenlow. Gavin let out a frustrated groan, and he looked around him. Gaspar was watching him.

  “It’s not going to change anything, boy,” he said, then glanced along the hallway. “I’m going to see what happened with Imogen.”

  Gavin followed him, and they reached a part of the temple where they had been earlier in the evening. From afar, he saw a body curled up on the ground, with a pool of blood next to their face.

  “Dammit,” Gaspar said, running forward.

  It wasn’t until Gavin got to the fallen figure that he realized who it was.

  Imogen.

  “At least we know what happened to the stone,” Gavin muttered.

  “Where’s Ruhid?” Gaspar asked.

  “I can go look for him.”

  “We will,” a voice said from behind.

  Gavin turned. Matrin wore a black cloak that covered his shoulders, and his hand rested on his blade. Two others were behind him.

  Gaspar looked over to Gavin. “Let them deal with it. Why don’t you wake the other El’aras and see if he knows anything. If he’s involved in some way…”

  Gavin headed down the hall, and he knocked on the door of the room where Theren was staying for the night. He waited, but there was no answer, so he knocked again. As before, there was no response.

  Theren should have been drawn out by the fighting. Given his eagerness to work with his sword, Gavin would’ve expected the warrior to jump at the opportunity to fight with anything.

  Where would he have gone?

  He shoved the door. The lock wasn’t stout, and it popped easily so that Gavin could open the door. The room was no different than the one Gavin occupied, but for a moment, he thought there was a shadow lurking in one corner.

  He stepped in but saw nothing. His skin tingled, though. Could that have been some enchantment Theren had used, layering it over the room itself, to ensure that nobody violated the safety of his room? Or maybe it was just the fact that there had been El’aras here, and he was picking up on the remains of magic. Regardless, there was no sign of Theren.

  Gavin turned back and stepped out of the room.

  Theren came striding down the hall. “What’s going on?”

  “Where were you?” Gavin asked.

  “I was just out for a stroll. I thought I might take a look at this city. As you probably know, our kind don’t need much sleep.”

  “You just happened to be gone during an attack?”

  He didn’t like feeling suspicious about what Theren told him, but at the same time, how could he not? Theren should have been here. But he was El’aras, and Gavin did understand that they didn’t need much sleep.

  He would watch Theren. His natural suspicion told him he should.

  Theren looked down at the two El’aras who were knocked out on the ground.

  Theren crouched down next to them and rolled one over, tracing his hand along the crest on one of their sleeves. He looked over to Gavin as he shook his head. “It’s the same family that attacked us in the forest. I am surprised they would come this far.”

  It was more than just how far they had traveled, though. What would Theren think about the idea that the El’aras had worked with a Toral? Or of them releasing hyadan? He didn’t even know if it was them, but the timing fit.

  “Why have the families suddenly started working against each other?” Gavin asked.

  “Issues began when the sorcerer escaped.”

  Gavin pressed his lips together. Cyran.

  “What happened then?” he asked.

  Theren got to his feet, dusting his hands on his pants. “Unfortunately, we were making a deal to exchange him for one of the other families’ prisoners. We nearly completed the transaction, but something happened. He managed to get away.”

  That was more than Anna had revealed to him, and it left Gavin wondering why she hadn’t shared more. There had to be some reason for her secrecy.

  “What exactly happened?”

  “I wasn’t part of the team involved,” Theren said. “I talked with them, though. The sorcerer shouldn’t have been able to escape. We have ways to prevent that, as you know.”

  Gavin frowned. “I was attacked by him. I know how powerful he is, and I know just what he can do.”

  “Is that right? I hadn’t heard anything. I know he has some ability, and he must’ve been powerful, otherwise he wouldn’t have been brought back to us to keep tabs on.”

  “Powerful,” Gavin said, nodding. “I don’t really know how he got so powerful.”

  “You knew him.”

  “There was a time when I thought I did, when I believed we were friends. Then I had to kill him.”

  Theren grinned darkly at the comment. “You killed the sorcerer? Good on you.”

  “Killing a sorcerer is never something I do lightly.”

  “No,” Theren said. “It takes a delicate touch.” He chuckled, reaching for his sword. “You have to find their neck and take the head off from the body.”

  “Not like that,” Gavin said.

  “Why? It works.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

  “I know it’s not,” Theren said. “I just thought I would make a little joke here. Perhaps the timing wasn’t quite right.” He watched Gavin as he said it, and chuckled again.

  Gavin called to Anna through his enchantment again, but he didn’t hear anything back. He wanted to reach her and Wrenlow, but the enchantment didn’t seem to work from this great of a distance.

  None of that changed anything for him. He had to keep his eye on Theren.

  “I can send word to others. I have ways of communicating,” Theren said.

  Gavin looked along the hall. “We need to move the bodies. We should carry them back above ground. Bring them to the forest outside the city.”

  “You’d give them that honor?”

  “I’m not about to dishonor them,” Gavin said.

  “You’re a strange man, Chain Breaker,” Theren said.

  “Why is it strange to give them the honor of the rest they’re supposed to have?”

  “Because most people aren’t concerned about honoring their dead.”

  “Killing isn’t something I do with glee,” Gavin said.

  Theren smiled tightly. “Then you have wisdom that not all men have, though you’re not quite a man.” Theren watched him with an edge in his eyes, something that Gavin couldn’t quite read. “Perhaps not. But you aren’t quite El’aras, are you?”

  Gavin ignored the barb and realized that maybe he was overreacting about Theren. Anna had vouched for him, after all.

  He grabbed the legs of one of the El’aras and dragged him along the floor. As he did, he looked over to Theren, who had the other one over his shoulder. Theren looked at the man, an expression on his face that Gavin couldn’t quite read. Maybe it was irritation, ma
ybe it was sadness.

  “It bothers you to see one of the families die, doesn’t it?”

  “More than you know,” Theren said.

  “Why would the families fight each other?”

  “They didn’t fight each other in this case, did they?” He looked over to Gavin. “They fought you, and seeing as how they don’t know that you’re El’aras, they wouldn’t have been breaking any trust.” Theren shrugged. “Don’t worry, Chain Breaker. I’ll get word to the others, and we’ll see if we can’t figure out what happened with your sorcerer friend. Once we do, we can try to understand why these others keep attacking.”

  When they reached the end of the tunnel, emerging from the underground, Gavin paused, taking in a deep breath of the night air. The air smelled foul, but he had to ignore it. They would go toward the forest, and from there, he didn’t know.

  He had to find the keystone. When Imogen came around, they could use her enchantment to track it.

  And then they would have to stop Ruhid and whoever he was working with.

  If that involved fighting more of the El’aras, then Gavin had to be ready for that.

  The only problem was that he didn’t know if he had the necessary skill.

  Chapter Sixteen

  It took quite a while for him and Theren to dig the burial sites for the El’aras. They had found a spot just outside the city.

  He straightened, wiping his hands on his pants. Theren crouched down next to the body of one of the men he’d buried and whispered something in the El’aras language.

  “I’m sending him off,” he explained.

  Gavin looked down at the mound of earth and shrugged. “Is there anything I need to say on behalf of this one?”

  “Probably not,” Theren said. “Unless you know our language.”

  “I only know a few words.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Gavin shrugged again. “Like I said, I’ve learned a few.” But none of them were useful, and he wished he could speak more than what he knew.

  He paused, staring at the pile of dirt, his mind troubled. He still didn’t have a guess for why the El’aras had appeared. There had to be some reason they had come, but Gavin didn’t know what it was. Theren hadn’t said anything, which suggested he didn’t know either.