A Blade and a Ring (The Chain Breaker Book 7)

  A BLADE AND A RING

  THE CHAIN BREAKER BOOK 7

  D.K HOLMBERG

  Copyright © 2022 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover by Damonza.com

  All rights reserved.

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  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Author’s Note

  Series by D.K. Holmberg

  CHAPTER ONE

  The massive bloom of light caught Gavin off guard.

  He ducked, rolled to the side, and started to reach for his sword before thinking better of it. He wasn’t supposed to be using his weapon. Gavin wasn’t supposed to be diving out of the way of the magic blasting toward him either, but he couldn’t help his instincts.

  He scrambled to his feet, starting to focus on the part deep inside of him that he called his core reserves. The space buried within him allowed him to access what he now understood to be magic, and he could channel that through himself. The challenge was knowing what he could do with it after he summoned it.

  As he tapped into the core reserves, Gavin pulled on power. There were specific patterns he could use to augment the magic he managed to summon, but for the most part, he didn’t even try. He lacked the skill—and the knowledge—to do something as simple as that.

  He instead braced his arms, crossing them over each other, and pushed the energy of his core reserves up through his body. The way his arms were crossed seemed to augment the power and permitted him to pour it out of himself and into the world.

  The magic blasted free.

  And completely missed the bloom of light.

  “Terrible,” a creaky voice said from nearby.

  Gavin spun quickly in surprise. What was the old master doing here? As far as Gavin knew, the man had been back in the settlement, leaving him to work through all of this on his own.

  “What did I do wrong this time, Master Jaremal?”

  The man dusted his silver hair back from his forehead, managing to make his pale eyes seem icy as he glowered at Gavin. “What did you do right would be a better question. You have completely failed at the simplest aspect of drawing on the power within yourself. Can you not see that?”

  Gavin found that he couldn’t move. He didn’t need to, really, but the feeling was unnerving. Master Jaremal held him with an invisible band of power that looped around his body, sealing him inside.

  Gavin suspected that he could break out of this trap. He was the Chain Breaker, after all, and had learned to use his power against magic—but he didn’t dare try. He was here for a specific reason, and he wasn’t going to learn what he needed to know if he overwhelmed his instructor. At least physically. There was no way he could do so magically.

  “All I know is that I’m able to pull the power through myself the way you’ve described.”

  Master Jaremal walked over and wiggled two of his bony fingers at Gavin, and they landed like a punch to his chest. Gavin didn’t see anything but the energy that struck him and pounded through him, forcing him to gasp with a sharp intake of air as he struggled to withstand the assault.

  “You pull power. That was never the issue. When you first came here, you were able to access that part of yourself. Even a child can do that, though.” Master Jaremal clucked softly and turned away, though Gavin knew his attention was not fully off him. He had learned all too often that the man was aware even when he didn’t look in his direction. “But you have no focus. I don’t know what she sees in you.”

  “She thinks I’m the Champion,” Gavin said.

  Master Jaremal turned back slowly, swiveling and looking at him—and the ring on his finger. The simple, smooth band was constructed of a white material and impossible for him to take off. Master Jaremal claimed that over time, Gavin would learn how to do so. The problem was that he had not yet learned what that was going to entail, and he had not been given any specific guidance as to what he needed to do.

  “Yes. Well, the Shard thinks a great many things, but unfortunately for you, they are not always accurate. If they were, then our people would’ve been united long ago.”

  Gavin stood motionless at the admonishment. He’d heard it before. “What should I do differently?”

  “What did you see, Gavin Lorren?”

  Gavin smiled tightly, reminded of his earliest lessons all those years ago from his first and most brutal instructor. “I saw a bloom of pale-blue light, and I ducked out of the way, not wanting to be struck by it, so I—”

  “What did you see?” Master Jaremal asked.

  The question was the same, but Gavin sensed there was something distinct about what the man asked, though he had no idea what it was or why it would matter.

  “I saw some shape of magic,” Gavin replied.

  Master Jaremal nodded once, and he made another small sound in the back of his throat. “You saw magic. Well, what you call magic. It is not magic when you are born to it, though, is it?”

  He turned quickly and dragged Gavin with him, practically floating him above the leaf-covered floor of the forest. Trees on either side stood nearby, guardians protecting Master Jaremal—not that he needed it.

  “Do you believe it to be magic that your heart beats in your chest?” Master Jaremal glanced at him, before turning and heading deeper into the forest. They were venturing away from the settlement, though Gavin didn’t worry about that. He knew his way around well enough now that he didn’t have to fear getting lost anymore. “Do you believe it to be magic when you take a breath while you’re sleeping?”

  “My body does that for me,” Gavin muttered, the same way he had responded whenever Master Jaremal had asked that in the past. Not that the man recognized Gavin’s irritation. And if he did, he didn’t show it.

  Master Jaremal waved his hand, shaking his head. “Your body. What does your body do when you call on what you refer to as magic?”

  “I have to focus on it,” Gavin said. “It is a part of me, but I have to draw it up intentionally.”

  “Why must you use it intentionally? Why is it not part of you at all times? Why must you focus on something that you should be calling on consistently?”

  Gavin didn’t have a good answer for that, and he knew that Master Jaremal didn’t expect him to either. These were rhetorical questions, the kind that he had been asked ever since they had started to work together, designed to encourage him to focus. He had no idea why these questions were important, only that Master Jaremal was specific on what he wanted Gavin to think about.

  That was in sharp contrast with the kind of training he’d had when he was younger. Whereas before it had been about perfecting his body, his instincts, and his reaction so that he could
be the most skilled fighter he could be, this training worked his mind in ways he had not considered before—a fact that Master Jaremal constantly reminded him about. He treated Gavin as if he were some dullard. In that, the man and Gavin’s old friend Gaspar would’ve agreed.

  “I was trained not to draw on it constantly because I ran the risk of weakening myself,” Gavin said. “You know the story behind it as well as I do.”

  Master Jaremal turned and focused on him with intensity. “I know the story. And I know that you are what they believe to be the Champion.” He waved a hand as if that meant nothing. “But it’s what you were that matters. It’s what you are that is important. It is how you think that will set you apart.”

  “Where are you taking me?” Gavin asked.

  They were heading into a deeper part of the forest, the trees now arching overhead, blocking out the daylight. The musty air smelled of damp earth mixed with the stench of decay and even something musky that Gavin couldn’t identify.

  “I am taking you to where you can continue your studies. That is why you are here, after all.”

  He flicked his fingers again, and Gavin felt another punch to the chest. Though he had trained his entire life to withstand pain, there was something quite demeaning about having this frail-looking man handle him as quickly and easily as he did. Would he even be able to take Master Jaremal down in a real fight? Maybe if Gavin drew upon magic—all the magic he had available to him—he might have a chance, but even that wasn’t a guarantee.

  “You’ve been with us for the better part of several months,” Master Jaremal said. “I’ve tried to teach you the techniques necessary to hone your mind and to emphasize the skills that everyone with your abilities should possess. But in that time, you’ve only just progressed beyond where you were when you first came to me, and you can barely handle the basics. And now, I fear we are running out of time.”

  Gavin clenched his fists. “What have you seen?”

  Master Jaremal turned to him, and for a moment, the brightness of his pale eyes seemed to change. It was as if some part of the ocean washed through them and part of the sky reflected within them, but then the effect faded. “I have seen nothing, but I fear for what has transpired so far,” he said softly, then turned away. “The divide between the families deepens. There has been much anger for far too long. It should have been over by now, but it persists despite my best efforts to stop it, along with the attempts of others like me.”

  He clasped his hands in front of him and looked at Gavin with vibrant eyes. “And you. The Champion.” He managed to make it sound like an insult as he said it, though as far as Gavin knew, the title was supposed to be one of honor within the El’aras people. “You have done nothing other than prove yourself unworthy.”

  “I don’t know, I think thwarting several attempts to destroy the Shard has proved me worthy.”

  “Focus on that power within yourself again.”

  Gavin opened his mouth to argue, then clamped it back shut again. This was the reason he was here. He was supposed to be learning how to draw on magic, but being able to do so was not as easy as he had believed it to be. Not the way Master Jaremal wanted him to do it.

  Gavin focused. Finding the core reserves within himself was simple now. He had known about them for many years, though he hadn’t realized that the power was magic until recently. It was a simple matter of tapping into the energy and pulling it out, or perhaps pushing it out—he wasn’t sure which way it worked. As he did, the power bubbled up and outward, rolling over his entire being, filling him and strengthening him. That was the way he had been taught to draw that magic out by other El’aras he had traveled with.

  A burst of energy struck Gavin in the chest again, and though he hadn’t been prepared for it, the force of the blow was not nearly as hard as it would have been if he had not been calling on his core reserves.

  Master Jaremal’s brow furrowed for a moment, and in that brief flash, something seemed to shift within him. Almost as if he became more youthful. He took a step back and held his hands before him, making a triangle out of his index finger and thumbs, though they didn’t touch. The space between them crackled with a blue energy that built in intensity, like he was holding some point of power between his hands.

  “Can you recreate this?” Master Jaremal asked. This was not one of the techniques he had demonstrated before.

  “I can try,” Gavin said carefully. He had learned not to argue too much with the man, especially when it came to his lessons on how to call on power. He attempted to move his hands but could not. “You need to release my arms, though.”

  Master Jaremal merely watched him.

  “It’s like that, is it?” Gavin muttered.

  He focused on the core reserves within him again, letting that energy bubble up and strengthen him. Adding that strength to his arms, to his bones, to his entire being, had been a simple matter from the very first time he had realized what he was doing. It had gained him the nickname of Chain Breaker, a reputation he had earned long ago but seemed unnecessary once he’d come to the El’aras. There was no chain that magic couldn’t break.

  But perhaps Master Jaremal was trying to show him that the kinds of chains and the types of power he would be using on Gavin would be different.

  Gavin tried to push his arms outward, to help himself stretch out as he pushed on the barrier that surrounded him, but he quickly realized that Master Jaremal wasn’t testing him with physical strength. This was magic.

  Gavin focused his core reserves, letting them continue to bulge outward and flex against the resistance. He couldn’t see what Master Jaremal was doing to hold him. Until Gavin could break free, he wasn’t going to be able to place his hands in front of him the way Master Jaremal wanted him to, so he wouldn’t be able to generate the power Master Jaremal wanted from him either. He had to find some other way, but doing so would involve drawing on magic he had specifically been instructed not to use.

  Would Master Jaremal even know? Gavin wasn’t sure if he would recognize it.

  Gavin ran his thumb around the surface of the ring he wore on his left hand. The band felt tight on his middle finger, almost as if it were trying to cut off the blood supply to his hand, but he had been wearing the ring long enough that he no longer thought about it that way. Now it was just a part of him.

  The ring also granted him connection to some other power, something that was beyond what he could call on naturally. He had access to what seemed like a new source of core reserves, one he was meant to access but was difficult for him to do easily.

  In the time he had been working with Master Jaremal, Gavin had been specifically instructed not to draw on that power. Master Jaremal wanted him to master his own power first, to have the ability to use all magic within himself before he started to summon anything additional. Gavin had tried to do as he had been told, but he still struggled. As much as he wanted to follow the man’s instruction, the ring gave him access to something more.

  He attempted to draw just a bit. Though it was little more than a trickle, the power Master Jaremal was using around him constricted more tightly. Gavin glowered at him.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

  “I won’t be able to break free of what you’re doing on my own,” Gavin said, keeping his voice tight and controlled.

  “And why not?”

  “Because I’m not El’aras like you.”

  The bands continued to constrict, and Gavin struggled to breathe. He had felt something like this before. His first instructor had made a point of trying to demonstrate a technique like this.

  “You need to be El’aras like me to be able to escape?” Master Jaremal taunted.

  “Isn’t that why I’m here?” Gavin couldn’t see anything of the forest around him, though he felt as if the trees were closing in on him, as though they were part of these bands squeezing him. He wouldn’t put it past Master Jaremal to have some way of connecting to the power of the trees to use them
against him. Though he had never seen an El’aras use power like that, it wouldn’t surprise him to learn that something like that could even be possible.

  Master Jaremal took another step toward Gavin, and the power continued to constrict. “What do you think I am doing that you cannot do yourself?”

  Gavin attempted to flex. When he had been bound by physical chains, he’d been able to easily use his connection to that power so he could burst free. When he had been bound by magic, there had only been a few times when he had struggled to withstand it.

  This time, the energy squeezed him and continued to make it difficult for him to breathe. He had been warned that this would be difficult training, but he hadn’t taken it as seriously as he probably should have. This was far more challenging than he had anticipated.

  “You have greater control over your own power,” Gavin said. His breaths came slowly as he controlled himself. He didn’t want to exhale too much because each time he did, the power around him pressed against him even more.

  Master Jaremal simply watched him with a casual expression on his face. In that way, he reminded Gavin far too much of his first mentor. “And you think you cannot do this because you did not learn to during your childhood?”

  “I’ve told you I cannot.”

  “But you have demonstrated a facility with all the various techniques.”

  Gavin hesitated. What was he getting at?

  Master Jaremal’s statement was true. Gavin knew many techniques, mostly because part of his training had been in identifying patterns, replicating them, and using them after seeing them only a single time. Sometimes, he had extrapolated from those patterns and tried to come up with new ones. That was part of the training that Tristan, his mentor, had instilled in him, something that had made Gavin an incredibly gifted fighter. Learning how to fight and adopt different combat styles had been out of necessity, though—so that he would not suffer.