The Paper Dragon (The Chain Breaker Book 5) Read online

  “This is a longer journey than the last one we took on these damn things,” Gaspar said.

  “It would be nearly a month by foot,” Gavin said. “Are you already upset you came?”

  Gaspar glared at him. “Not about that. I’m upset we have more time on these damn things. You could have asked him to put some padding on.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s how it works.”

  “Me neither, but you still could have asked.”

  Gavin chuckled. They gathered some loose wood, and he even hacked off some of the other wood from a low-lying tree, piled it up, and created a ring for fire. If it were just him traveling, Gavin wouldn’t bother to start a fire, mostly because he didn’t need the extra attention, but the four of them would be safer. There was no reason for them to be in any real danger here. Then again, he had only a vague sense of where they were going. They were following Imogen, who guided them in virtual silence.

  “She’s having a hard time with this,” Gavin said as they continued to look for wood for a campfire.

  “She had captured the keystone,” Gaspar said. “That’s what bothers her, you know.”

  Gavin regarded Imogen. Theren stood near her, offering another El’aras treat. “I can imagine that it would.”

  “I think it’s hard for her to acknowledge. She was making her way to a place where she thought it could be destroyed. Then she was attacked on the road and lost it.” Gaspar took a deep breath. “She tracked it to Yoran but couldn’t find it from there. She blames herself for what’s happening.”

  “But there hadn’t been any hyadan for a while.”

  “Not for some time,” Gaspar said.

  “I wonder what changed.”

  Gaspar turned his attention to Imogen. “I don’t know. And I don’t think she knows either, but she worries. Then again, she keeps it inside, the way she always has since I’ve known her. She’s strong that way.”

  That could’ve been strength, or it could’ve been the start of weakness. People who kept things inside often let it build up until it cracked.

  But then again, he couldn’t imagine that happening to Imogen.

  “Just be ready to help her when she needs it,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin got a fire going, and the others took a seat around it. The flames crackled gently, and they cast a pleasing warmth against the growing cool of the darkening night. Gaspar broke out some jerky and bread.

  “Jessica wanted to make sure we had provisions,” he said. “I’m not so sure of her supplier for the jerky, but it’s better than what I used to have when I traveled.”

  Gavin glanced over, frowning. “When you used to travel?”

  Gaspar looked at the flames. “A man needs to get out on the road. Needs to see things, don’t he?”

  “I suppose he might.”

  “Well, some of us got out to explore a little bit and took a chance to see the world.”

  It was a side of Gaspar that Gavin hadn’t expected.

  “What did you do before you were a constable?” he asked.

  Gaspar shook his head. “I didn’t do a whole lot.” He took a bite of his jerky, chewing slowly. “Most of the interesting stories come from after that time. It’s not like I’m keeping some great secret from you, boy. I grew up in Yoran. It was my home. I started working for the constables, trained with them, and… Well, you know the rest of it.”

  “I don’t know how you became the thief you are.”

  Gaspar smiled. “You study a thing long enough and you get good at it. I was always quiet, and while I might not have been the best fighter, I did have talents while I was with the constables. Not everybody needed enchantments.”

  “You didn’t know about them.”

  “No,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin had wondered about Gaspar ever since getting to know him. There had to be more to it than just someone who had once been a constable suddenly deciding to become a thief. It was a story hoped to tease out of Gaspar. Maybe now was a good time for that.

  “Who taught you how to be a thief?” Gavin asked, leaning close to him.

  “She was nothing like the man who taught you,” Gaspar said.

  That elicited an arched brow from Gavin. “She?”

  “You don’t think a woman can teach a man how to steal? When I was young and had enough stolen hearts, I figured the best teacher might as well be a woman.”

  Gavin let out a small laugh. “Is she in Yoran?”

  “No. She was old when I started working with her, and…” He stared at the fire, going quiet for a while.

  “What happened?”

  “Can’t say that I know,” Gaspar said. “Poison, probably. She tended to take difficult jobs. Nothing like the kind I prefer.”

  That provoked another question. “What kind of jobs have you taken on? I’ve never really gathered that from you.”

  “Well, while the Captain was active, I tried to keep him from getting ahold of enchantments he shouldn’t.” Gaspar looked over toward Imogen, shaking his head, then turned back to Gavin. “Once you showed up in Yoran, even that wasn’t necessary.”

  There was more to it, Gavin was certain, but as he looked across the fire at Gaspar, he had a feeling the old thief wasn’t going to share anything more.

  “What prompted you to leave Yoran?” Gavin asked.

  “You know what it was.”

  “It can’t all have been about the enchanters.”

  “I was angry,” Gaspar said. “And I wanted to get revenge. I left the constables and the city, and eventually learned my new trade. Before returning, I met Imogen.”

  Gavin glanced over to her. Gaspar had alluded to this, but he hadn’t told the story. “Is this when you lost the keystone?”

  Imogen held his gaze. “I was preparing to return. My people believed it was made with dark sorcery, and it could not be destroyed.” That fit with what Anna had told Gavin, but he didn’t say that. “I was not far outside of Yoran when I was attacked. I didn’t even see who it was. They took the keystone, left me bloodied and near death, with my bond quest incomplete.” Gaspar patted her on the shoulder. “Gaspar found me, brought me back to where he was staying, and healed me.”

  “Gaspar said you tracked it to Yoran?”

  There was a flash of irritation in Gaspar’s eyes, but Gavin couldn’t tell if it was because of him or the situation. He didn’t want Imogen to suffer, Gavin could tell that. Gaspar never wanted her to be hurt.

  “I have an enchantment that lets me track the keystone,” she said. “That’s how I found it in the first place. It took me there.”

  Gavin frowned. “The keystone has been in Yoran?”

  Gaspar grunted. “We thought so. Or we thought it possible. Her tracking enchantment never changed while she was in Yoran. We’ve continued to look for the keystone, boy.”

  Gavin started to laugh, but he was cut off by a sharp look from Gaspar.

  “All this time, I thought you were nothing more than a thief,” Gavin said.

  “I am a thief.”

  “But something like an honorable one.”

  “A thief still the same,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin turned back to Imogen. “So did your enchantment change?”

  She nodded slowly. “After the attack, the enchantment began to shift. I can feel directionality from it, and I know where it’s going. There can be only one place. It had to go to those who knew about the hyadan and the keystone.”

  Gavin wondered when it would have been stolen. Could it have been tied to the stone men who’d attacked him?

  “Why would they want it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Imogen said.

  Gavin sighed, and he turned his attention to Gaspar. He had a sense that Imogen didn’t want to say anything more. “How are you not able to find it?”

  “Enchantments are hard to track in Yoran,” Gaspar said. “You’ve seen that.”

  “I suppose I have.”

  “And we’ve been looking. But we haven
’t found it.”

  “Somebody did, though,” Gavin said.

  Gaspar nodded.

  Could that have been what he had chased when he’d encountered the strange enchanted golem? If so, then all of this was connected.

  Gavin was even more glad that he was here. He could have stopped it.

  Gavin frowned as he watched Imogen, but she remained silent. There seemed to be a darkness about her, one he couldn’t quite explain, that he worried would only get worse the further they went. He had no idea what bothered her, only that whatever it was seemed to be tied to who and what she had been before she’d joined Gaspar in Yoran. They sat in silence for a while, nothing but the sound of the crackling flames nearby. It was peaceful, almost. Gavin had been on plenty of jobs that had not been peaceful, so having this sensation now was relaxing to him in a way. He breathed in the smoke and let out a steady breath.

  Theren got to his feet. “Well, Chain Breaker?”

  “Well what?”

  “We’ve got a quiet night. We have a space like this. I think the two of us should have a little spar.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Gavin said.

  “Do you think we might encounter something on the road? Even if we do, what’s some poor traveler going to do to you?”

  It wasn’t what a poor traveler would do to him that worried Gavin. It was more about others they might come across. They’d been moving quickly, and he didn’t have the opportunity to figure out if anything might be out there chasing them. There certainly had been magical users that had come after Gavin before. El’aras. Toral. Other kinds of power he had to be cautious with.

  “Go on, boy,” Gaspar said. “Show him what you can do.”

  Gavin hadn’t actually sparred with anybody in quite some time. He had worked with several who had challenged him. Davel and his enchantments could push Gavin, but there was a limit to how much he could do, especially now that Gavin had the ring that he was still struggling to understand. There was power in that ring, which Gavin had to master before he hurt someone.

  He had worked with Imogen, but it had been rare. She was skilled with the sword, and he hadn’t dared fight with her without one.

  Then there was his work with Wrenlow, but that was more teaching than anything. Most of the time, Wrenlow preferred to focus on avoiding any dangers.

  In this case, maybe it was reasonable for Gavin to fight Theren.

  Theren was El’aras, after all, and there was the distinct possibility that they might have to deal with other El’aras. Gavin had already faced some in the past. If he were to come across others, especially those as skilled as what they’d encountered back near Yoran, he needed to be concerned.

  He got to his feet and looked over to Theren. “Okay, we can spar. I suggest that we do so without using any enchantments.”

  Theren grinned. “I don’t carry any on me.”

  “And do not use any of your own natural abilities.”

  “Well, that seems a bit unfair.”

  “Why would you tell him not to?” Gaspar asked. “Are you afraid you don’t have quite the skill you claim?”

  Gavin shrugged. “Fine. Use whatever you need. I warn you, though: when I spar, I don’t let up.”

  “Weapons or no weapons?” Theren asked.

  “What would you prefer?”

  “Seeing as how you’re the Chain Breaker, I’ll let you choose.”

  Weapons would be more dangerous, Gavin knew, but at the same time, they would also limit the fighting styles they could work through. He had no idea how talented Theren was, other than Anna’s claim that he was her most skilled fighter. Perhaps Gavin needed to take this opportunity to test that.

  Many people could fight with a sword. They jabbed with the pointy end, and even somebody unskilled could get lucky enough and find a way to draw blood. Fighting—real fighting, the way he had been trained—was not quite as easy.

  “Without weapons,” Gavin said.

  Theren smiled. “Perfect. I was hoping you’d choose that.”

  They backed away, finding a clear spot within the trees. Gavin circled, sizing Theren up, his training setting in again.

  He didn’t have the same fear with Theren that he had when entering a real fight. Maybe that was to his detriment. When he’d dealt with Tristan and any of his training, there had always been the fear that he would need to use every bit of power he possessed to fight through what he faced. And when it came to Tristan and the kind of power he used on Gavin, it was more than just about demonstrating fighting techniques. Everything was always more than just a sparring session.

  Theren smirked.

  In the poor light, Gavin was at a slight disadvantage, but did he need to be? He had seen that he could use some of his own power to shift what he could see. It was what Anna had taught him, the way she wanted him to focus and learn, to harness the power within him. Maybe he should use that now.

  Theren chuckled. “Are we going to dance, or are we going to fight?”

  “I’m waiting,” Gavin said.

  “You’re waiting?”

  Gavin shrugged. “You’re the one who wanted this.”

  “I figured you’d want to see how you would fare against an El’aras.”

  “I’ve seen it already.”

  “That’s right. You have.” For a moment, there was a hint of darkness in Theren’s gaze, and then he lunged.

  Gavin had known he would be fast, but even with anticipating Theren’s speed, it was difficult for Gavin to be completely ready. He twisted to the side, barely avoiding a punch to the chin, and dropped down as he blocked a knee that was coming up.

  There was a fluidity to Theren’s movements. Gavin had known there would be, and should have anticipated it better than he had. He bounced back to his feet, turning and readying the next attack. Theren lowered himself, and he shifted his feet.

  It was a fighting style Gavin knew. The Karan style was one that worked through rapid kicks and a series of low holds, but there were easy ways to break it. When Theren came at him, the shift from Karan to Judel was sudden.

  Gavin grinned. He had not expected Theren to be this trained. He should have known better. Not only was he a skilled swordsman, but he was a skilled fighter.

  Gavin fell into his own patterns. He flowed from a Judel form to Karan, then to a more ancient art before twisting. He caught Theren in the ribs, and Theren grabbed his arm, bending it back. But Gavin flipped out of it and tried to catch Theren with his legs, but the El’aras moved quickly.

  Gavin dropped to the ground, trying to find a way to add a new element of surprise, but Theren threw a potent kick. The strength was far more than Gavin had anticipated. He was caught in the side, but he managed to grab Theren’s leg and jerk. The force of it caught Theren off guard, and he went flying.

  Gavin tumbled toward him and flipped into the air, bringing his fist around, but Theren ducked. Gavin tried again and jammed his shoulder toward where Theren should have been, but he’d already moved on.

  Back and forth they went.

  They danced through a dozen different fighting styles, many of them he hadn’t expected Theren to know. They moved from one pattern to the next, one form to another.

  Then Theren threw his elbow toward Gavin’s shoulder. It reminded him of something Tristan had once done to him, and he dropped, knowing the defense. Gavin kicked, swinging his leg around, and struck out. Even as he did, he could feel some numbness starting in his arm.

  He reacted without meaning to. He called upon his core reserves and pushed the power through him the way he’d always done, and the numbness in his shoulder faded quickly.

  And then he jumped, driving his arm toward Theren. He caught Theren in the neck and dropped him to the ground. Theren tried to flip him off, but Gavin kept him pinned down. Theren continued to fight, but Gavin held on to him, forcing his arm down against his throat.

  “Do you yield?” Gavin said.

  Theren watched him, and as before,
Gavin noticed an edge of menace, but then a wide grin spread across his face. “Damn. You really are the Chain Breaker, aren’t you?”

  Gavin didn’t move. “Do you yield?”

  “Do you really need me to say it?”

  “At this point, I do.”

  “Get off him,” Gaspar said.

  Gavin looked over. “I need him to yield.”

  “You need him to do nothing, boy. Now get up.”

  Gavin looked down, and Theren continued to smile at him. As they both sat up, Theren winked and Gavin shook his head.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I tend to take it too seriously.”

  Theren scoffed. “Sorry? You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. You should always treat a fight seriously. Even if it’s just a sparring session.” He glanced over to Gaspar and winked again. “I’ve got some cousins that would love to work with you.”

  Gaspar watched them before turning his attention back to the fire, irritation evident in his eyes.

  Maybe Gavin had gone too far. He tended to do that.

  He took a seat at the fire, pushing down the frustration that had surged within him at the memories of the way he’d sparred with Tristan. There was no purpose in those feelings, nothing he would gain by holding on to that energy and emotion. What he needed now was to let go.

  Theren took a seat across the fire from Gavin, close to Imogen, a smile still plastered on his face. “Maybe we can try that again tomorrow,” he said.

  Gavin just nodded. He wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Maybe it would make more sense for him to avoid sparring or anything that would draw him deeper into those feelings and his memories of Tristan.

  Instead, he needed to focus on being ready for whatever they might face. If the hyadan were in the city, then he had to prepare.

  Still, he couldn’t shake what he’d done, nor could he shake the effort he’d put into sparring with Theren. There was a familiarity to the fighting, a savage comfort in battling with someone like that.

  Gavin didn’t care for it. He was the Chain Breaker, but that wasn’t what he wanted to be at all times. Eventually, he was going to have to find a way to let that go.

  He wasn’t sure if he could.