How had he gotten back ahead of him? Either Theren had another way of getting down here, having explored the city while Gavin was facing the hyadan, or he had some El’aras technique.
Regardless, Gavin needed to talk to the others, to tell them what he had observed Theren doing so they could decide how concerned to be about it. The fact that they had somebody with them so willing to attack and slaughter sorcerers could destabilize what was already a dangerous situation. They didn’t need to add even more to what was happening.
But maybe the others with Imogen might want that. There were certainly people who worked with her, or had worked with her, that felt the way Theren did about the sorcerers and the Society.
Gavin glanced at Theren for one long moment before taking a deep breath and turning away.
He would neutralize Theren if it came down to it.
Gavin just hoped it would not.
Chapter Seventeen
Gavin found Gaspar crouching down next to Imogen. Her eyes were open, and there was a glazed look to them. She was breathing regularly, and though he saw some dried blood on the side of her head, it didn’t appear to be actively bleeding any longer.
“Did she say anything?” he asked.
Gaspar looked up at him, shaking his head. “Nothing of use. She hasn’t really been able to talk.”
“We need to know whether Ruhid said anything to her before he attacked.”
“I doubt it,” Gaspar said, “considering Matrin and the others found his body.”
Gavin tensed. “Where?”
“Down one of the halls. He might even have been attacked by the hyadan.”
Could he have been targeted by the very creatures he had thought to release? It was a cruel sort of irony, but Gavin didn’t have it in him to feel bad for Ruhid.
“Did they find the keystone?” he asked.
“No,” Gaspar said.
Imogen suddenly sat up, and she opened her mouth as if she was trying to talk to them, but then it clamped shut. She lay back down, staring straight ahead.
“Are you sure this is just an injury?” Gavin asked.
“What do you mean?”
He gestured to Imogen’s body. “This. Whatever happened to her. It doesn’t look like any simple injury that I’ve seen before.” He leaned down, and though he wasn’t a healer, he had worked with Tristan often enough that he understood the basics. He checked her pulse, listened to her breathing, and examined her eyes again. There was nothing he could tell. “It looks almost like an enchantment did this.”
“Maybe it did,” Gaspar said. “We just have to wait for it to wear off.”
Gavin clenched his jaw, suppressing frustration. He looked over to Gaspar, and then to Imogen. “You need to know about something.”
He went on to tell him about his experience with Theren, and his growing suspicion.
A strange surge filled him, something that suggested magic used nearby, and Gavin turned to see Theren sitting alone, watching him from the far side of the room.
Gavin stiffened. He hadn’t seen Theren enter.
Every so often, he looked at Theren, worried that maybe he was paying attention to him. What if Theren had some way of listening? He was El’aras, and he would have to have skill that Gavin didn’t, including heightened hearing.
If that were the case, how could the two of them keep talking in private?
“We have to keep an eye on him,” Gaspar said. “I’ve watched the two of you fight, and you might be the only one who can take care of him if it comes down to it.”
“I’m aware of that. I’m hoping it doesn’t become necessary. I’m hoping I’m wrong.”
Gaspar held his gaze. “Do you think you are?”
Gavin sighed and thought back to everything he had seen. Had he been asked that question when they had been traveling to Loruv, he would’ve said he was wrong. How could he have believed that Theren was capable of any of this? He had been a pleasant addition to the journey. All of that had changed, though.
“No,” he said.
“Then we need to be ready. I can talk to Matrin and the others of the Twelve, and maybe we can see if they can help. They trained under Imogen, after all.”
Gavin nodded. “It might be necessary.”
He twisted, making sure he could see Theren out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t want to watch him directly, but he also didn’t want to let him get out of sight.
“We might need to move these people out of here,” Gavin said.
Gaspar flicked his gaze up, and Gavin turned to see Matrin approaching.
“I doubt they will be willing,” Gaspar said.
“Even if it means their safety?”
“Even if.”
“What is it?” Matrin asked.
When Gavin suggested moving the people out until he knew whether they were in any danger, Matrin shook his head.
“We tried that once before,” he explained. “It did not work well for us. We were in a different part of the city—our part. There was a time when we recognized the dangers of the Society, and we moved into the temple for safety. When the Society began to push, we found our way down here, down to the place where the Society could not harm us.”
“It would be safer outside the temple,” Gavin said.
“Safer for who?” Matrin asked.
If the Society was actually working with the people in the city, and if they were actually trying to help, it would be safer for them to have stayed there.
Gavin sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
“It does,” Matrin said. “You don’t know what it’s like to deal with sorcerers.”
“I think you’d be surprised at what I know,” Gavin said, occasionally checking to see that Theren stayed within view. “I’ve dealt with plenty of terrible magic users over the years, those who think they can use their power to control and rule. I’ve also dealt with some who think that what they’re doing is on behalf of the people they’re serving. Sometimes they are misguided, but sometimes they are just foolish.”
“Watch it,” Gaspar warned.
“And I’ve met others.” Gavin shook his head as he thought of Char, the healer he had met in Nelar. “Sorcerers who wanted nothing more than to help. Those who believed they were fulfilling some noble cause, who thought that by learning magic, they were serving the people.”
“That isn’t our experience with the Society,” Matrin said.
“I’m sure it’s not,” Gavin said. “I’ve also met those who are simply powerful, who feel as if they have every right to rule as sorcerers.”
He stared at Matrin, wishing he had an answer as to what his ability, and Imogen’s, was. It wasn’t sorcery, but it was powerful enough that they didn’t have to fear sorcery. That suggested considerable strength.
“What are you getting at?” Gaspar said.
“Power often corrupts.”
“You like to think of yourself as powerful.” Gaspar settled his hands on the table. He leaned slightly forward, watching Gavin. “Do you think power has corrupted you?”
“It most definitely has,” Gavin said, then breathed out a slow sigh.
It was a terrible thing to acknowledge, but Gaspar was right. Gavin didn’t feel as if the rules applied to him. He had operated outside the law for the entire time Tristan had trained him, which had corrupted things for him.
Perhaps it had even corrupted who he was. He tried to think otherwise, but how could he believe anything other than that?
He was changed because of who he had been and what he had learned.
“Why do you think that?” Gaspar asked.
“Because I know I don’t have to follow the same rules as others.”
Gaspar grunted. “You think you can do whatever you want.”
“Yes,” Gavin said. “And that’s exactly my point. What makes me any different than sorcerers who want to rule? What makes the Twelve different than the Society they seek to overthrow?” He swept his gaze around the roo
m, then turned to Matrin. “If you were to take over rule in the city, how would you change things?”
“We would ensure that everybody had enough,” he said.
“That’s what you tell yourself.” Gavin looked over to where Imogen lay motionless. “But given what I have seen, and what Imogen has seen, I would suggest that she would say otherwise.”
She hadn’t moved since she had fallen back. It wasn’t the first time Gavin wished he had a greater understanding of the healing arts. Tristan had not so much kept them from him, but Gavin had been so busy that he hadn’t had the opportunity to fully master it. Each time he came across a situation where he wished he could do more, he felt that regret. Felt that sense of helplessness.
It was not a feeling Gavin was accustomed to, and it was certainly not one he cared for.
Worse, he knew that if he had mastered his El’aras magic, he might not even have to feel this way. If he could control it, and the core reserves within him, it was possible that he could use that to help Imogen and anyone else who was injured.
Gavin sighed. “Just be—”
He jumped to his feet when he realized that Theren was missing. “Dammit,” he muttered.
“You can go,” Gaspar said. “You don’t need my permission.”
“And I wasn’t asking for it,” Gavin said. “But Theren is gone.”
The El’aras had taken the opportunity to sneak away, but to where?
He swept his gaze around until he saw the door at the far end of the room.
“Dammit,” he muttered again.
“You keep saying that,” Gaspar said, “but it doesn’t change anything.”
“I need to go after him before he takes the hyadan stones.”
“He takes the what?” Matrin asked.
“The stones. He’s an El’aras, but I have a feeling he’s here for a very different reason.” Gavin glanced to Gaspar, then turned his attention back to Matrin. “I am afraid I know who has the keystone. Worse, I have a feeling I know what he is going to do. He doesn’t care much for the sorcerers either.”
Gavin could practically see the debate warring in Matrin through the expressions on his face. Knowing what he did about the man, how he wanted to defeat the Sorcerer’s Society, why wouldn’t they want the El’aras involved? But at the same time, doing so was only going to create a different sort of problem.
Especially with the way it seemed Theren was willing to act.
Gavin headed toward the door toward the hyadan stones.
“You won’t be able to open that,” Matrin said.
Gavin found the door locked. He held his hand out and began to probe, focusing on his core reserves. The energy came up slowly, and he pushed out through his hand and into the lock. Gradually, he began to feel a magical resistance against him.
For all the talk from Matrin about not wanting to use magic or to release the hyadan, having a magical presence over the door suggested otherwise. Then again, there was the fact that Imogen had access to magic. She had to, considering the way she was able to defend herself against sorcerers.
Gavin continued to channel power into the lock. He had to find some way to trigger the door, not destroy it. He didn’t need to be the Door Breaker at this point. It was a matter of control.
He focused on his breathing, on the earliest aspects of his training, and thought about the way Tristan had wanted him to concentrate on how to harness power. When he had first begun learning how to fight, Tristan had taught him about clearing his mind.
He had to avoid any distractions.
That was not something Anna had instructed, but maybe Gavin needed to get back to his basics. As he cleared his mind, ignoring everything else around him, he started to push outward, letting that energy begin to seep out from his hands as he probed into the lock. He could practically feel the power holding him back.
It was a strange construct, a trace of magic that blocked his entry. But even stranger was the fact that Gavin could feel how he could slide past that.
He reached in, not with his hand, not with a knife or a weapon, but with his control over magic. It was a part of him. As he focused on this, as he felt that power and energy, Gavin could feel the way it flowed from him, and the way it pressed into the lock.
It became almost a physical manifestation. A faint trace of blue energy began to flow out of his fingers, into the lock, and it swirled as he looped it around and toward that magical barricade that prevented them from going any further.
Gavin withdrew it, and it came out slowly. There were times when he tried to deny his true heritage. Tristan had trained him to be a fighter. To have not affiliation. The more he learned about what he could do, and about himself, the more he realized he was a part of something else.
El’aras.
Even knowing that, Gavin didn’t even feel he could consider himself one of them. He felt connected to power and magic, but that was it. Anna had tried to bring him closer, but he didn’t know how he felt about that yet.
He tried again and pushed even more power into the lock, then felt a click.
A seal broke, and Gavin pushed open the door.
When he stepped inside, a faint chill washed over his skin, leaving it tingling. He closed the door behind him and pressed his hand up against it, and he felt it seal off again. This time, Gavin was far more controlled, almost as if he were pushing the power back into the door, the way he had pulled it out.
The proximity to the door, and what he had done, made it so that Gavin thought he understood what was happening, even if he didn’t know if he could recreate it on his own. Having felt it was different than being able to create it.
He started down the hallway. This had been an old temple, and though Gavin knew nothing about the religion, his gaze lingered on the stone and the symbols that were etched into it. He thought of enchantments, but these probably were not. He hurried forward, wanting to chase Theren before he managed to escape. So far, Theren had moved too quickly and had been one step ahead of him.
But why had he not simply come here in the first place?
Was it because of Gavin?
That was something he could take advantage of.
He reached the room at the end of the hall that housed the hyadan stones and held his hand up against the door. Gavin cleared his mind the same way he had before, tried to become one with the core reserves within himself. When he did, he could feel a faint trace of power that began to fill him, energy flowing outward and into the door.
There was something physically there, the same as it had been on the other door. Gavin looped a bit of power around it and pulled, drawing that energy off. When he did, he felt a separation, not quite a tear but definitely something physical. And it pulled within him.
The door came open with a click.
The room looked a little different than it had before, but that was only because he was not alone. Theren stood in the middle of the room, stooping over one of the bins, and turned to face him as soon as he entered. There was a dark smile on his face, and a hint of something else that glittered. Anticipation?
Certainly not fear.
He grinned. “The Chain Breaker. I had not expected you to have such control.”
With that, he whipped his sword up.
Gavin immediately began to reach for his core reserves. He hoped he had enough remaining if it came down to using them, but even if he didn’t, maybe he could control the power of the ring.
He used a mixture of fighting and magic, and he jumped back, twisting his hands in a pattern, then tried to grab for Theren’s arm. He pushed out power from within him, which exploded into Theren, tossing him across the room.
Theren quickly got to his feet, scooped up a handful of the hyadan stones, and shoved them into his pocket. He spun toward Gavin, sweeping his blade around in a rapid arc.
“You know, I really had hoped we would have a chance to spar for real.” He grinned. “You do know I was holding back when I fought you the last time.”
Gavin grinned back. “You wanted to challenge yourself against the Chain Breaker.”
“No, I wanted to know if I could beat you.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Theren forced the sword toward Gavin, who reacted by darting to the side, reaching for his arm, and trying to grab it again. He missed. Theren was fast.
“I told you that my people were from the mountains,” Theren said. “Like Imogen. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same way of tracking the hyadan as your friend did, but I kept my ears open. And thankfully, I remained curious, always preparing. And that curiosity brought me to Yoran, and to you.” He flashed another smile, but this looked more like a sneer. “I wasn’t able to get to the keystone in time, but your little journey offered me another opportunity.”
“And you would destroy the El’aras in the process?”
“I did not destroy the peace. That was on her. And that was on that sorcerer friend of yours.”
“Cyran is not part of this,” Gavin said.
“He wasn’t part of this, per se, but when I realized that my kind is willing to bargain with the sorcerers…”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you think he was getting moved in the first place?” Theren said.
Gavin frowned. “I don’t really know.”
He hadn’t given a whole lot of thought to why Cyran had been moved, only that he was. Maybe he should’ve considered the reason behind it more than he had. The El’aras had wanted him for a reason, and as far as Gavin knew, it had only been because of the attack on Anna.
What if there was another reason? What if they had wanted him for his sorcery, or because of his connection to other sorcerers?
“She didn’t tell you?” Theren chuckled. “Of course she would not. She wanted to keep it to herself. The great Risen Shard.” He swept his blade toward Gavin.
Gavin twisted out of the way, striking toward his arm again. He was trying to chop his hand down on Theren’s forearm, to knock the sword out, but he wasn’t fast enough. Theren whipped around, and the blade barely missed Gavin’s head.
The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5) Page 20
