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

  “Makes you wonder why, though, doesn’t it?”

  “All of this makes me wonder why,” Gavin said.

  They reached the bottom of the stairs, and the space opened up even more. Lanterns were set into the walls, and their light flickered. They appeared to use natural oil. As far as Gavin could see, there were no enchantments around here whatsoever.

  He nodded to Gaspar and said as much.

  “These people don’t like magic,” Gaspar replied. He had commented on the Muvarth having some magic, so that was surprising.

  “They don’t like magic, or they don’t allow it?” Gavin asked.

  He shook his head. “This isn’t like Yoran. They don’t like it, but they haven’t been able to outlaw it completely because the Society rules here.”

  Gavin looked behind him. All of it started to make more sense.

  This was a literal underground.

  These people had gone underground because they wanted to keep separate from the Sorcerer’s Society, and they wanted to be able to maneuver without the Society knowing where they were.

  “What do her people do with the Society?” Gavin asked.

  Gaspar gave him a meaningful look. “You know what they do.”

  He had seen Imogen stand against a sorcerer. When she had dealt with the Mistress of Vines, Gavin had recognized that Imogen did not fear sorcery the way so many others did. More than that, she had some way of resisting them.

  “They’re trying to expel the Society out of the city?”

  “There’s a resistance,” Gaspar said.

  “It doesn’t look like much of one,” Theren said, shrugging when Gaspar looked at him. “Slums like that mean that those who side with the resistance were forced out of the city. Like they didn’t know what else they could do.”

  “Slums like that mean that the society is concentrating,” Gaspar said. “We’ve seen that in Yoran as well.”

  “There aren’t any slums in Yoran,” Gavin pointed out.

  “Not any longer,” Gaspar said. “Once we pushed out the Triad, all of those places were torn down. People returned to the city, and there wasn’t the same fear at rebuilding that there had been before. People believed they could have a life, that they wouldn’t have to worry that the Triad might destroy everything they worked for. It gave Yoran a chance to finally flourish.”

  Gavin hadn’t known that history.

  “So you think this is some sort of resistance here?” he asked.

  “I told you the other way she trained them. She came for the keystone and to destroy the hyadan, but she had another purpose.”

  Gavin watched the back of Imogen as she walked. He could see tension in her body language, in the way she followed the man, even though she tried to feign a relaxed posture.

  They continued forward. Faces appeared in the shadows near the walls. Down each of those dark halls, tunnels branched off. They kept moving and headed down one tunnel. The farther they went, the more Imogen began to stiffen and look as if she wanted to be somewhere else.

  Gavin hurried up to her, ignoring Gaspar’s look.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he whispered to her. “I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, but if this isn’t how you want it to go, we can find another way to understand what happened with the hyadan.”

  She looked over to him, holding his gaze. Something within it shifted. It was almost as if she gained a measure of confidence that hadn’t been there before, and she nodded to him. “This is the way to understand.”

  “If this has anything to do with your fight with the Sorcerer’s Society —”

  “That was never my fight,” she said softly.

  They continued down the long corridor. The ceiling arched overhead, and Gavin couldn’t even imagine what it must’ve taken for the masons to construct it or for those who had dug the tunnel here. It must have taken decades. And as they made their way along, others continued to poke their heads out and peek at them.

  “They have hidden in the shadows for years,” Imogen said. “For many of these people, it’s all they’ve ever known. They had to hide, even if they didn’t want to. They had no choice but to remain in the dark. The Society increased their focus in the city while I was here, and in the latter days of my stay. The people believed that it was because of what I had been doing to teach them to challenge sorcerers.” She shook her head. “I doubt that is what it is. I doubt we even drew their attention. Instead, I fear it was something else.”

  “The hyadan,” Gavin said. “And the keystone.”

  She nodded.

  “And this is where you stayed?”

  “Here. Places like this. But it was more that we trained here. I would never have remained in the temple. There is something that feels not quite right about it.” She shrugged. “Perhaps it is because I am not one of the Muvarth.”

  “Do you ever regret not staying?” Gavin asked.

  “My bond quest was not complete.”

  They reached a massive chamber, and there were others here. They were much more organized than the people in the streets above. They didn’t appear dirty or disheveled, and as Gavin assessed them, most of them looked back at him with determined stares. Some of them carried swords, others had long knives sheathed at their sides, but everybody had a weapon.

  He was tempted to reach for his core reserves, and curious whether anybody would detect whether he did so, but he hesitated. He didn’t want to draw that kind of attention and create a challenge here. Imogen frowned, and some of the hardness in her face faded, shifting and becoming softer.

  “Do you know any of these people?” he asked.

  “I know them. I was once one of them,” she said.

  “You were the First of the Blade.”

  She looked over at him. “I was.”

  Gavin watched her for a moment, thinking through what he’d seen. She had journeyed here on some sort of bond quest, and had learned to fight before coming to Loruv.

  “I trained all of them,” Imogen said quietly. “I thought that part of…” She looked down as she trailed off.

  “Is this about your bond quest?”

  She glanced up, meeting his eyes. “Many of my people take on a bond when they reach my level. That is what separates the First from the others.”

  “How many are like you?”

  “Enough are,” she said softly.

  “How many are better than you?” Gavin asked.

  “Not as many,” she replied.

  “What does it mean that you are First of the Blade?”

  “Here, or in my homeland?”

  Gavin frowned, considering. “In your homeland.”

  “It means that I have reached a certain level of skill. It means I was given an opportunity to progress, and to see if I might gain even more skill.”

  “What about here? What does your title mean here?”

  Imogen looked around her before answering. “Since I trained them, the title means something much more here. I brought many of them along with me, trying to help them reach greater heights than they could have otherwise. They learned and trained, and they found a way to help their people. Because of it, they raised me up as the First.”

  “And now? Did you reclaim the title?” Gavin asked.

  She inhaled deeply, and she looked up at the man leading them forward. “I cannot.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I cannot. That was not my bond quest.”

  They slowed as they neared the end of the chamber. A small oval table occupied much of the space, and three people sat around it. All of them glanced up as the group approached.

  The man sitting in the middle frowned as he took in the sight of Imogen. “What is this?” he demanded, getting to his feet. Deep gray eyes glared at her. A black cloak hung over his muscular shoulders, mostly concealing the hilt of his sword. He glanced from Imogen to Gaspar to Gavin, before finally taking in Theren, his sharp jaw jutting outward. “What are you doing here?”

 
; “I came for answers,” Imogen said.

  “You left. You abandoned our people.”

  “I had not completed my task. I had the keystone, but it needed to be destroyed. You knew what I had to do.” There was a pleading look in her eyes which Gavin had never seen before. “But then I was followed. The keystone was found. Someone who knew what it was and what it meant came after it. There was only one possible answer.”

  “Enough.” He nodded to the shadows, and a dozen figures stepped forward.

  Imogen shook her head. “I am the First of the Blade.”

  The man behind the table glared at them. “How dare you return after all this time and make that claim?”

  “I am the First,” she repeated.

  The other figures converged, and Gavin readied for another fight, but something shifted. They took up a position around their group, as if flanking Imogen.

  Gavin leaned toward Gaspar. “Who is that man?”

  “I believe that was once her betrothed.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gavin sat at the table and glanced from Imogen to the man sitting across from her. She sat with her back rigid, as if she wanted to be anywhere but here. For that matter, he suspected she did want to be anywhere else.

  Theren lounged in his chair, leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the other man with a hard smile. He somehow positioned himself to sit nearer to Imogen.

  The other sword fighters remained around them, but they had retreated back into the shadows again, leaving their group sitting undisturbed at the table. Gavin wasn’t quite sure what was taking place, but he had a feeling that by proclaiming herself the First of the Blade, Imogen had restored her command of them.

  He looked at her with a renewed interest. Perhaps she was a greater ally than he had given her credit for.

  The man leaned forward. He rested his arms on the table. “You should not have returned,” he said, his voice lowered in scarcely controlled anger.

  Gavin recognized that rage within him, having felt it before, but had learned how to control it better than this man. He might have led in her stead, but Gavin wondered if she would be able to defeat him. Did it only require him to be a skilled sword fighter?

  “I had not yet completed my task,” she replied.

  “You made a choice, and you left us.” He swept his gaze around before settling it once more on Imogen. “You left me.”

  “You know the reason why I did.”

  “The city has fallen because of you.”

  “Because of me?” Her voice rose slightly and she clenched her fists. It was the most reaction that Imogen had ever displayed. “How is any of this because of me?”

  “You took the one way we had of protecting ourselves from them,” he said, the heat building in his voice.

  Imogen frowned at him. “That is why you came after the keystone? You knew what it was, and you knew my purpose.”

  “And you knew that I wanted to protect my people,” he said.

  Imogen’s knuckles were now white. Anger and rage flashed through her eyes before retreating and fading. “You didn’t need the keystone to protect yourself,” she said.

  “Have you been out in the rest of the city? Since you’ve returned, have you even seen what has become of the place you once called home?”

  “I’ve seen the slums.”

  “That is not what I mean.”

  She stared at him. “I have not.”

  He snorted at her. “No. You were far too concerned about your precious bond quest. That is all you’ve ever been concerned about.”

  “That is not true.”

  “If you cared about anything else, you wouldn’t have left us. You wouldn’t have allowed the Society to claim even more of our land or to nearly destroy the temple.” He regarded her with a deepening sneer. “I would do what it takes to protect our people.”

  “Your people,” Imogen said softly. “And you were willing to release the hyadan to do so.”

  “Yes.”

  Gavin stared. “What do you mean release them?”

  “The keystone unlocks the other stones,” Imogen said. “They are useless without it. And I suspect he wanted the keystone to release them on the Society.” She shook her head. “He believes that is how he will reclaim his people and his land, but it will not be claimed so easily.” She leaned forward. “The sorcerers can defend themselves against the hyadan. You have not seen what I have seen in my homeland.”

  “I know what they can do,” the man said. “I know they can be controlled.”

  “No. There is no control.”

  She shook her head again. Everything within Imogen went tense, and for a moment, a surge of anger flashed along her delicate features. There had been a time when Gavin wouldn’t have called her dangerous, but now having fought alongside her, that time was long past. He knew just how brutally effective she could be. Seeing that flicker of anger worried him that she might act, and if she did, he would have to be ready to help.

  “Where is it?” Imogen asked.

  “You won’t find it. You might’ve tracked it here, but I am not the only believer. The others will ensure that the keystone survives. And then we will reclaim the city.”

  Gavin held his hands on the table, and he looked around. If this man had been responsible for releasing the hyadan, then Gavin would have to intervene, even if he wanted nothing to do with it.

  But it was more than just that.

  “You could’ve been a part of this,” the man said to her.

  Her face twisted in disgust. “I could never be a part of something like that,” she said. “I know what the hyadan can do, and how indiscriminately they slaughter. It is not just those with power that they bring down. They might feed on them, they might use them, but they harm innocents. Far too many innocents. That is why the stone needed to be destroyed.”

  “We need to restore the balance. When you were here, the Society could not expand. Your techniques failed when you left.”

  “You failed them, Ruhid,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I made a mistake in teaching you. Now you will show me to the stones.”

  He smiled slightly. “You do not get to demand anything.”

  “I am the First of the—”

  Ruhid jumped to his feet, his sword unsheathed. There was a darkness that swirled about his blade. Gavin had seen that when he had dealt with the Toral who had attacked Anna in the forest.

  Theren stiffened, but didn’t move.

  “Careful,” Gavin whispered to her. “He’s not what you expect.”

  Ruhid looked over to him. “Outsiders who know nothing don’t get to speak here.” He whipped the blade around. As he did, darkness streaked out from it.

  Gavin stared at the end of the blade.

  That wasn’t just darkness, that was power. Ruhid must’ve made some sort of alliance to use the stones. He had mentioned having the keystone with others who could control it, which meant that it had to be somebody else with dark sorcery—the keystone couldn’t be controlled any other way.

  Gavin looked to Gaspar. “Can I get involved this time?”

  “I’m afraid you need to,” he said.

  Gavin leapt to his feet, and the darkness immediately began to spiral around him, attempting to constrict him. At least there was no magic holding on to him.

  “You are making a mistake, Ruhid,” Imogen said.

  “The mistake was you thinking you could challenge me for leadership, and for leaving. Perhaps you were my equal once, but no longer.”

  He flowed through a quick series of movements, almost faster than what Gavin could follow, and he brought his blade around. Imogen parried, pushing Ruhid back.

  Gavin felt the power constrict around him, and though he strained to break free of it and suspected that, in time, he would be able to, he didn’t know if he would be able to before Ruhid acted.

  “Can you get in there and help?” Gavin said, glancing over to Theren.

  “I’m no
t here to deal with succession issues among the Leier.”

  Gavin focused on the core reserves within him and on summoning the strength he needed to break free of the power around him. He could feel something flowing. He pushed, reminded of how he had pushed outward against the bindings Tristan used to place on him.

  And then the power exploded.

  Gavin ran straight toward Imogen. He tried calling on the power of the ring, but it didn’t come. There were times when he felt as if he could master that magic, but other times it seemed too distant for him, as if he could scarcely reach for the edge of that energy. Now was one time like the latter.

  But when he reached Ruhid, something shifted.

  Gavin called on his core reserves, then felt a fluttering within him, and he pushed it out. He tried to call on the power of the ring again, but it flickered for a moment, the energy coursing through him before failing. He continued to try to reach for it, but it didn’t come to him the way it needed to. Frustration filled him, but he knew that couldn’t be helped. Anna had told him to be one with the power that flowed within him, and he had to find it somehow. As he focused, he could feel his core reserves, and he pushed that energy out through him. Then a hint of power finally exploded from the ring.

  It slammed into Ruhid, and he fell back.

  Imogen darted forward, sweeping her blade in a quick arc, but Ruhid was faster. He used the connection he had and pressed outward with the dark power.

  They faced each other, back and forth.

  Gavin tried to intercede, but found he didn’t need to. Imogen was a blur with her blade. He had seen her fight before and recognized that she was incredibly skilled, and as he watched her now, he paid special attention to how she brought her blade around and the patterns she used. There was a definite form to them, something that he couldn’t quite make out when he was either sparring with her or fighting alongside her. Now that he didn’t have to intervene, he could keep an eye on what she was doing and recognize more about how she was fighting.

  The pattern revealed itself to him. She was skilled—far more skilled than her opponent.